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Malware is a generic term that is used to describe software that is designed to insinuate itself into your system without your knowledge or consent. This includes viruses, worms, root kits, Trojan horses, spyware and adware. I'm not going to define for you here in this space each of these save to say that once there, this destructive software is able to cause all kinds of damage. It can cause the mild irritation of the occasional popups, more sinister problems such as hiding important files and utilities, (thereby preventing you from easily removing them) all the way to wiping out your hard drive or destroying hardware.

I'm sure you've heard the expression 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.' It is far easier to prevent these insidious infections that to cure them. Protecting oneself against malware is important because at the very least it slows down productivity in the workplace. At worst, it can destroy equipment, requiring extensive repairs and/or replacement which are even more damaging to your bottom line. I'll share an example from my own experience.

I bought a computer early on in my career and was using a popular antivirus product. One day I was online and my machine started to run slow, so I tried all of the normal fixes such as clearing the temp files and defragmenting the hard drive, etc. This did not help it run any better. I ran a virus scan and found many instances of malware. After attempting to clean the system, it actually failed to boot. Turns out there were bad sectors on the hard drive. I replaced the hard drive but still was unable to get the system up. After checking every conceivable component, I found that my memory was also bad and was unable to upgrade the BIOS. As you can well guess, I ended up buying a new machine. A cynical person might say that it was not my antivirus software's fault and the machine was probably bad to begin with. I will concede that there is always an outside chance of that, but given that this all happened immediately following the infection and my subscription was far from being up for renewal, I will always contend that it was the result of this product's failure to do its job. Today it is considered a quality product but I will never recommend it based on that experience.

One of the most important things that you can do to protect yourself is to stay current with your windows updates. Many malicious programs are designed to exploit security vulnerabilities and send themselves without the user's knowledge. Here are a few other tips:

• Don't click on any email attachments from sources you are not 100% sure of. Even if you are confident in its source, scan it before opening it.
• Don't open any files received via instant messenger without scanning them first and verifying from the person who sent it that they actually did.
• Stay away from peer to peer file sharing networks. Those networks are flooded with all manner of malware and it only takes one false click to infect your machine.

You should install an antivirus solution and keep it up to date as well. There are many products out there that are capable of protecting your machine from these malicious attacks, some freeware and some retail. I'm not going to promote or denounce any product but rather implore you to shop around and do your own research or contact an IT professional for guidance.

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