This means that users need to remain ever vigilant to avoid becoming the victim of a potentially very harmful computer virus. It is important for every computer owner to know that not all viruses are the same. Some computer viruses are just annoying, generating popup ads as you browse the web, or increasing the amount of SPAM you receive.

Other types of computer virus, however, can be more dangerous. Some computer viruses can wipe out a hard drive, or steal your personal information and files. To make matters worse, some computer viruses are able to hide in a computer for some time, activating at a future date and doing their damage when triggered by certain events or dates.

Fortunately, computer owners do not have to be at the mercy of computer virus coders. There are a number of measures computer users can take to protect themselves from viruses, Trojan horses, adware, spyware and other malicious code on the internet.

For starters, it is essential that all computer users install a good quality anti virus software program BEFORE their computer is connected to the internet. This is because there are programs that constantly search the internet, looking for computers that are unprotected by virus scanning software. A recent survey by a security organisation found that it takes only minutes for a computer to become infected with viruses and spyware. Installing an anti virus software program is vital to protecting yourself from these malicious programs.

It is also important to update that anti virus software program on a regular basis. In the past, many computer security experts recommended doing updates on a weekly basis, but most agree that weekly updates are no longer sufficient. It is generally best to update the anti virus software you install daily, and to schedule those updates to run automatically. Running the updates automatically will ensure you do not forget to update the software, and running the updates daily will ensure that you are protected against the latest threats.

Most users will want to schedule the updates to their virus scanning software to occur during the night, when they are asleep. Running these updates when the computer is not in use is a good idea for a number of reasons. For one thing, updating the anti virus software when the computer is not in use will ensure that there are no conflicts, and that the program is able to update itself to detect the latest computer virus. Running the updates after hours will also prevent the updates from interfering with web surfing or any other activity. Running a computer virus protection update can sometimes interfere with other software, so it is best to run it automatically, when you do not need the computer for other things.