Virus protection helps computers live longer

By Lance Fuller
Campus Correspondent

*Note: This story about virus protection was not posted on The Gainesville Sun's Web site. The story originally ran on Sept. 2, 2008 in the campus edition of The Sun.

Marcus Keyes believes your college computer can last beyond graduation and even into graduate school.

Experts will tell you that common computer problems -- viruses, spyware, registry errors -- will slow your computer's performance or cause it to crash.

But proactive maintenance such as running anti virus software, as well as using a spyware sweeper and a registry cleaner can keep your computer young, fast and clean, experts say.

Keyes, trade coordinator at the University of Florida Bookstore, said all of these services can be downloaded for free and will extend a computer's life.

Anti-virus software such as Norton, AVG or McAfee is easy to operate and can scan your computer on a regular basis, Keyes said.

Viruses are programs written by people and programmed for any type of harm, he said. There are trillions of different viruses and new ones every day.

People activate viruses through everday actions such as surfing the Web or opening an e-mail, Keyes said.

More a threat to the user's privacy than to the computer, spyware is software installed on a computer, most often without the user's consent, and monitors the user's behavior, said Wang Weixun, University of Florida computer science graduate student.

Spyware can run itself without the user's knowledge and detects user names and passwords to send the information to the person running the spyware, Wang explained.

Spyware comes from pop-up advertisements on the Internet and from downloading music from unsecure Web sites, Wang said.

Keyes said to combat spyware, a program like Spybot -- Search & Destroy will remove spyware from a computer.

While not as well-known as viruses or spyware, registry errors occur over time when a user adds, removes or upgrades software.

Using a registy cleaner notifies the user of any erroneous programs and files that need to be removed, Wang said.

When programs are added and deleted, unusable files remain on the hard drive, and this cluster of information can slow the computer's performance, he said.

Yet despite the abundance of resources available to prevent problems, most computer users wait until serious damage has been done before doing anything about it, Wang said.

Many students do not encounter computer problems when they first use a computer, so they feel lucky and do not bother to incorporate protection like anti-virus programs, Wang said.

While running the right type of software can protect from viruses and spyware, the user must also remember not to expose a computer to extreme temperatures and avoid eating or drinking around it, Keyes said.