Wednesday 28 January 2004

Pic of the day: Pure as new snow. Oh wait, this is new snow.

Dodging computer viruses

I am sitting here, watching the viruses throw themselves at my computer like bugs at a windshield. I am online all day and all night, and have been active on the Net almost since it became available to private citizens here in Norway. I have never had a computer virus infection, or a worm, or a Trojan. Some of it may be luck, but there are supposedly limits to luck, especially when you're not Irish. So, what am I doing right?

First let me tell you what I am doing wrong. I use Windows, and have done so since version 3.0. If you use a Mac or a PC with Linux, you can lean back and gloat when other people get infected, since computer viruses are almost without exception made for Windows. But there is a reason for that. The two together don't make up 5% of the market, so it is simply not worth it. In the unlikely case that people flee Windows in droves to escape the virus plague, it will follow them. Well, unless they scatter to mutually incompatible platforms, and you can see how that would be a problem.

I use Windows because nearly all my favorite games are available only for that platform. And it has been like this for a long time. Besides, I am too lazy for Linux and too cheap for Mac. ^_^

What I don't do, however, is use Outlook as my standard mail program, or Explorer as my standard browser. That is just asking for trouble. For a moderate price, Opera delivers a faster and easier browser with quite good integrated mail handling. (Or you can get it for free and watch ads from Google. Good ads, too.) Until recently I used Forte Agent for mail and newsgroups, and it is good as well. It may well be that these have security holes like the MS products, but nobody cares. Of course, I could still get infected if I opened all incoming attachments. But I am not that curious. You wouldn't be either, if you got more than 100 spam mails a day. But it is really just common sense.

***

On a related note, I don't act on the mails I get supposedly from banks, VISA, American Express and Ebay urging me to re-enter all the confidential information needed to use my account there. In part this is because I don't use Ebay and American Express ... but overall, I just am not that stupid.

It is too bad you have to be a genius to not be scammed on the Net. But I suppose as the non-geniuses are robbed of all their money and their children starve to death on the streets, society will be rid of their inferior genes and we will all march forward to a glorious future of neohuman supremacy. Or perhaps someone will tell them to not be so bloody stupid. That would be good too, and without anyone starving. Feel free to try.

***

Back to virus and how to protect our computers. I run Norman Virus Control, a popular anti-virus program at least around here. You can buy it, but I got mine from my bank. I believe my ISP would have given me one as well, if I didn't have one already. It is worth looking around before you pay. There are several competing brands, and to the best of my knowledge they are pretty much equally effective at keeping viruses away and cleaning up if your computer is already infected. Some of them may conflict with other programs, and each of them conflicts with every other anti-virus program out there. This is only to be expected: Checking the files for viruses means low-level access, which a virus would use as well. So stick with one. If it doesn't work for you, find another and stick with that instead. But I didn't have any problem with virus before I installed this program either. Just avoid risky behavior. ^_^

And of course, use Windows Update. You may already have set it to download updates automatically. But if not, take a minute each week to check whether there are new patches. Microsoft tends to publish patches pretty quickly when a problem is found. Also Windows Update sorts the patches and upgrades into categories depending on how important they are. Take the critical ones first. There are lots of stuff you'll never need. Most of us won't need to input both Arabic, Thai and Simplified Chinese characters on the same computer. A good thing, too!

That pretty much finishes, I think. Come as you are and become like me, you won't regret it ... in this one aspect at least!