Why Antivirus Software Is Needed for PDAs and Mobiles

Most big-name PDAs presently available (HP, Sony, Toshiba, Dell, iPhone and Blackberry) have operating systems as complex as those found only in personal computers not so many years ago. History has shown us that complexity in computing systems is one factor that leads to exploitation by those whose moral values are (ahem) different from most persons’.

Figuring out how spyware invades your privacy

Spyware is a term that applies to a wide variety of features, functions, and bits of software designed for one purpose: to monitor a user’s computing habits and send that data back to a central monitoring site. Spyware uses various methods to track the virtual movements of individuals as they explore the Internet:

Cookies: Some banner-ad companies (the source of those “banner ads” that appear on many Web sites) use these tiny globs of code to identify your individual system and record what Web sites you visit. The idea is to determine which people are seeing which banner ads. This all happens without your clicking a single ad.

ActiveX controls: Some Web sites or banner ads may attempt to download ActiveX controls into your computer.

How to Protect Your Computer with a Firewall

Windows computers can be attacked in many ways — and not just with viruses, worms, or Trojan horses. Another popular way to attack a Windows computer is to attempt to communicate to it over any of the network “ports” found on Windows computers. These ports are kind of like TV channels or radio frequencies. Computers are set up to listen for messages that may arrive from other computers — this is how they communicate with one another.

How firewalls work

Firewalls monitor all the communication between your computer and the Internet. Firewalls know what kinds of communication are allowed to flow in and out. They know this because they have something called an “access control list” — a list of rules that specify precisely what kinds of communications are allowed and what kinds

Deciding How Often to Get Antivirus Updates

Some questions crop up often — “Does my computer have a virus?” “How do I scan for a virus?” “Does Dick Clark wear a toupee?” — But the most-often-asked question about antivirus programs is, “How often should I get updates?” If I was more of a blarney artist, I would attempt to impress you (or bore you) with statistics that would tell you precisely how often to update your virus-signature files. Instead, I’ll provide a shortcut, a simple answer that lays out some practical approaches and why it’s reasonable to use them:

Always-on, broadband Internet connection: If your computer is connected to the Internet all the time, update your signature files at least once or twice each day. If you work with sensitive data that you can’t afford to lose, updating up to six times a day would be better. On a slow news day, this might be construed as overkill, and any more than six times a day would be overkill. But sometimes a really nasty virus is on the loose and multiple variants are popping up every day. If you have to continue your work on a day like this, hunker down and update your signatures every hour or two until the crisis passes.

Real Sikandar-e-Azam (Alexander)

SECOND MUSLIM CALIPH CONQUERED 2.2 MILLION SQ MILES IN 10 YEARS (MORE THAN ALEXANDER (1.7 SQ MILES)

We all think that Alexendar was a great warrior, emperor, but most of us do not know about a person who WAS the greatest ruler in the history of ISLAM, (Hazrat UMER FAROOQ ). I actually read this column about Hazrat Umer Farooq. And I came to know many facts that Hazrat Umer Farooq was the greatest Emperor in this world, not Alexander.
Alexander became king at age of 20, Conquered Greece, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Jerusalem, Babylon, Egypt, India, Then he went back from Sindh (Pakistan).
People Say that he was the greatest EMPORER , WARRIOR or CONQURER. He is known as KING OF KINGS.
But like many other facts about our religion most of all don’t know that HAZRAT UMER was the greatest EMPORER of this world.

Figure Out Why You Need Security Patches (Microsoft Patches)

The big software programs that run on PCs today consist of thousands and sometimes even millions of lines of source code (the step-by-step instructions that give the program its functionality and personality). That’s a lot to keep track of and (as with anything made by people) flaws can creep in.

Software can be as complex as any mechanical orchestration of gears, shafts, pulleys, bearings, levers, switches, and so on. But unlike physical machinery, software is almost entirely abstract it’s a set of electronic instructions. You can’t just hold it in your hand or put a wrench on it to tighten it up; that makes it harder to examine for strength, robustness, resiliency, and integrity.

It’s difficult to watch software’s inner workings in action:

There is rarely something you can actually watch. Even a word-processing program consists of mostly mathematical calculations, data buffers, table lookups, device management, and other steps that mostly push electrons around, far removed from what we see on the screen.

Challenges like this make it difficult to know whether a complex software program is error-free and whether it does exactly what it’s supposed to do and nothing else.

Understanding the Antivirus Software

Before I explain what antivirus software is, it’s worth reviewing the nature of software in general. Understanding software doesn’t mean you have to write computer programs or wear a hat with a propeller on top. The fact is that the word software is at the heart of viruses and the defenses against them. Knowing some basics about software will help you to understand viruses and how to stop them in their tracks.

These days, the term software is roughly synonymous with computer program. A program used to be a set of instructions individually written for every task a computer did. Software began as a package of programs designed to handle a range of specific tasks consistently. These days it’s a packaged product that tells the computer what to do consistently. There’s the rub: A computer is, after all, a machine that’s no smarter than its creators; software is still a set of instructions that makes the computer do everything. If a hacker can figure out how it does that, then the computer is ripe for a sneaky takeover.

Yep, viruses are software: Nasty, illicit software. As such, they can only be effectively fought with Antivirus software is specifically designed to rid your computer of viruses and to keep them at bay, usually by three methods:

·         By identifying viruses and arresting them when they try to invade

·         By identifying viruses already present in the computer

·         By removing viruses and making simple repairs to the computer

So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to figure out whether you already have antivirus software on your computer and, if so, whether it’s working.

Why does scanning take so long?

Scanning your entire hard drive could take an hour or longer. This depends upon many factors, including:

·         The speed of your computer’s processor

·         The size of your hard drive

·         The speed of your hard drive

·         The number of files on your hard drive

·         The extent of fragmentation on your hard drive

·         Your patience

So it’s hard to say how long it should take, but here’s why it takes so long. . . .

There are over 60,000 known viruses today, and your antivirus program has “signatures” on each one of them in your computer’s virus definition file.

When your antivirus program scans for viruses, it opens each of the over ten thousand files on your computer, and examines each one for the presence of all of these viruses.

Can online scan programs be trusted?

How can one be sure that the online virus scanning tool is doing what it’s supposed to, and nothing else?

Personally, I put more trust in an antivirus program that I buy at the local computer retailer than I do in an online virus-scanning program. But only a tiny bit more.

High-risk activities and Places

The types of activities performed on your PC also contribute to your risk, whether high or low. Each of these activities is related to how social you permit your computer to be. Do you often take it out in public where it can exchange information with other computers? In the analogy between biological viruses and computer viruses, a high degree of socialization (mingling with others) increases risk. The following sections look at some examples.

Wireless “Hot Spots”

Hoping to attract well-to-do customers, many public establishments such as coffee houses, restaurants, and other businesses have installed so-called Internet hot spots. These hot spots are Internet connections that a customer can use to connect to the Internet with a laptop computer, provided it’s equipped with a wireless networking (also called Wi-Fi or 802.11) capability. Some establishments charge a fee for the use of their hot spots; others permit use free of charge.

Developing Good Habits About Virus

People remember their firsts — the first time driving a car, first kiss, first surgery, and first computer virus. (Well, okay, some Firsts are better than others but most are memorable.) In the case of this first, here’s something to keep in mind. .

If you got a computer virus, human error was probably a factor. Somebody probably wasn’t doing something right.

That or you were extremely unlucky.

Nobody’s exempt from human error. You may have opened an infected attachment by Mistake, or missed out on the latest antivirus update. Or your friend who helped set up your computer may have skipped a step or left the wrong default in place. However it happened, you need to discover where the error came from. If you’re like most people, you may be able to safeguard your computer by changing some habits. Those changes take two forms:

Stopping virus-prone habits that put you at risk

Starting some virus-savvy habits that make you less of a target

Having good, up-to-date antivirus software is essential. But there are some other good defensive tools such as firewalls and antispyware. In addition to these nice defensive tools, you may still have some old habits to break and new habits to take up. The first good thing you did was to see my article. Now if you read carefully and take my advice to heart, you’ll be much safer in the long run.

Keeping antivirus software up to date

Antivirus software is of little value if it’s not kept up to date. One of those big-ego computer scientists once said that out of date antivirus software is as bad as having none at all. (Hey, sometimes the scientists are right.) The best antivirus program is next to useless if it’s not kept up to date.

Scan for viruses periodically