Along with the growth of productive and helpful computer programs

there have also been advances in malicious programming.

Computer viruses designed to inhibit productivity and cause damage to

computer systems have become increasingly common with the advent of 

the easy delivery method: email.

Antivirus protection is becoming an increasingly sought after product. 

Antivirus software protects your computer system from 

unwanted programs and malicious code, keeping your data intact and 

personal information safe.  One of the most common ways to get

a computer virus is via an infected email.

Unless you know the sender, do not download email attachments.  

Even if you do know the sender, be cautious when downloading

forwarded email attachments.  

Antivirus protection can only warn you of the danger of downloading

an unrecognised file; it can’t prevent you from making the choice

to download.  Unless you know the content of the download, 

and it is something that has been generated locally, you can’t

be sure that a virus isn’t hidden in the code.  Image files are

a favourite place for malicious programmers

to hide viruses.  Antivirus software will often find the virus

during a system scan, but in many cases that is too late,

so exercise caution when downloading.