Posts Tagged ‘Computer Repair’

Anti Virus Thoughts

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

As a computer repair technician, I find myself constantly trying to remove viruses from my client’s machines. There are many methods we use, but one of my favorites has always been to directly attach the client’s hard drive to my computer and scan away with our professional grade anti-virus programs.

One of the problems with doing this is that the viruses don’t always want to stay on their hard drive. They like to hop on over to my computer and do their best or should I say worst on my machine. This has never really bothered me, but the fact remains that even the best antivirus programs are only 98%-99% effective against malware, spy ware, trojans, viruses and god only knows what else. That’s not so reassuring when you figure that we’re commonly pulling hundreds of viruses off of these machines and removing literally thousands of viruses each and every day.

Many Antivirus programs are only 88%-97% effective. That means that out of a hundred viruses, 3-12 viruses are not found, nor are they removed. Everyone tends to have a false sense of security when they install their Norton, McAfee or what ever…

A strong percentage of our clients are not keeping their anti-virus programs updated, much less keeping their subscriptions up to date or even scheduling their anti-virus programs to run!

So, we see folks who shell out $25, $50 and even $100 for antivirus programs that never run. A simple check can save a whole lot of head aches, lost files and a smiling technician leaving your home with a check written out for your hard earned money.