If a computer is connected to internet or a broadband network without a firewall, it is very likely get affected by some sort of virus pretty soon. Analysis shows that the average time for an infection for such a system is around eight minutes. There are many commercial personal firewalls are available around the world. For example Norton anti virus pack comes with a default worm protection system included in it. it makes the system more safer. Windows XP also has an inbuilt firewall in it.
E mail has become one of the popular methods of sending viruses around. That is why people prefer to have a good e mail scanner for viruses. Most of these e mails just has to be opened to take the affect. It is not necessary to run the files to infest the virus. Recent developments have enabled e mails to be linked with other office programs. This integration has created so many weak links for the viruses to get through. Especially worm viruses used to get through this when the virus protection is out dated.
Main problem occurs when the e mails are viewed thorough e mail managing programs. These programs tend to download e mails directly to the computer in a format of their own. It is not in the normal file system. Therefore the anti virus program will not be able to scan through these types of files. It tends to stay in the computer and the mail box because of that. Whenever the inbox is opened it will infect another file. Since it is not detected by the anti virus software, it becomes impossible to clean or remove the virus. W32.Klez is one such kind of worm which used to be a dangerous one. It might also lead to loose all the e mails in the inbox.
If the web browser patches are downloaded and installed in to the browser, it can reduce the risk greatly if the e mails are accessed through that browser. Otherwise the user has to go for an anti virus program which will run on the e mail managing program and keep updating it frequently.
Virus detection has to be done on e mails before they get downloaded into the computer. Otherwise it will infect the system in some way as soon as it gets downloaded. That is why all the data about the e mail should be scanned by the virus scanner before downloading or sending an e mail.
All the e mail scanning packages will not be compatible with all this e mail managing software. But most of them will be compatible with Outlook express, Netscape, Eudora pro, Microsoft outlook and Netscape messenger.
Recent development in instant messaging has enabled users to do file sharing in instant messaging soft wares. This makes the feature as dangerous as e mail. If a virus file is transferred through messaging it can also damage the system. That is why it is very important to have some security for instant messaging as well. It can prevent backdoor applications or Trojans attacking the system.