Daily Photo

To protect against your computer being afflicted with viruses, spyware, back doors, Trojans and other forms of computer-borne toxic waste:

1. Always run an antivirus scan on email attachments before you open them, even if they seem to be text files or are from people you know.
2. Always scan disks and USB sticks before use.
3. Run a scan on every new program you install.
4. Use a firewall.
5. Beware unnecessary macros in documents.
6. Don’t open files received via instant messengers without a virus check.

Alternately, you could stop using an insecure and unsecurable platform like Windows. (By the way, this laptop’s battery runs 50-100% longer doing exactly the same things under Ubuntu Linux rather than Windows, and I blame (a) the antivirus (b) the need for the antivirus.)

Photo “anti-virus” by LuChOeDu, April 29, 2008, CC by 2.0.