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Trojan horses

We should all be using anti virus software on our machines. I must admit that I do not have a lot of trust in it as new infections are created daily so don't forget to update your virus drivers so check your software and see about getting regular updates from the suppliers sites. They are usually free.

The Trojan horse is a small little virus  that we usually don't even know that we've come in contact with until our sent mail shows that someone is sending from our mailbox besides us. At the same time they are getting our account name and password every time we sign on. Therefore getting into our account while we are locked out!These precautions should be written into stone by now but I will repeat them.

Don't download programs or files from people you don't know. These nasty little files can ride in on these files. If someone sends you a mail saying that they love you and you do not know them. BIN IT!! All attachments should be treated with the utmost caution. I have been infected by a virus after opening a file that I thought was from someone I knew. Only to find out that it was in fact a virus on their machine that was being forwarded to me.

Don't click on links from strangers! They may be promising you the world but all they want is your world. There is no such thing as a free lunch. They can be sending up a Trojan horse to sit quiet on your drive.

When you click their link, you are setting their Trojan horse into action. It takes residence on your hard drive and mails the sender your screen-name and password every time you sign-on.

If you've become infected, there are many areas that offer free demos, sample software, etc., to clear your computer of this little bugs. A few software search engines are: http://www.softseek.com/, http://www.nonags.com/, http://www.hotfiles.com/. You can type the word virus into the search windows and they will display downloadable files.

See below a letter sent in by Anthony

I have used AVG anti-virus for a couple of years now.  It is a FREE program. It has caught a few viruses; I personally don't get emails but from a very few family and friends, so AVG doesn't have to work too hard on my system.  Here's what I can say about it. 

I've never noticed any hogging of system resources and I run it all the time.  It works very well with MS Outlook (I run Outlook 2000).  They post updates on what amounts to a bi-weekly basis, of course the updates are free too. 

They have never contacted me other than by email to notify users of a particularly wide-spread virus. The only drawback I can think of is the updates grow in size.  Currently they are around 3MB, so for a dial-up user, the download may take 15 or 20 minutes. 

Another drawback could be, depending on your level of comfort, registering, which includes name, address, etc. If you would like to see it for yourself, here's their homepage http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_index.htm