Computer viruses have been around as long as personal computers  but I'm constantly amazed at how little attention is given to anti-virus and anti-malware software. A 2010 report by McAfee, a security software company, revealed that the cost to corporations of work time lost due to virus attacks was $6.3 million per day, and a Fox News report in 2009 estimated that $86 billion is lost worldwide annually.  Some companies use whatever trial software came with a computer but neglect to subscribe and keep it updated. Some even have multiple anti-virus programs on a single computer thinking that "more is better" yet it is not!
    

     There was a rash of FakeAV attacks a few weeks ago and many people saw screens like the one below indicating their machine was infected.  They weren't, but if the users had followed the screen prompts they would have become infected by a nasty Trojan looking to steal sensitive financial information.
  

     It's important that you have a solid anti-virus solution for your business so that you are not part of the daily $6.3 million loss of productivity.  You should have the same software on each computer in your business.  Each copy should be up-to-date, both the program version and virus definitions.  Your computers should have a full scan performed on a regular basis and you should review the results regularly. Updates and scans should be managed by your server and anti-virus software should not be able to be unloaded or disabled by your staff.  As we often find a haphazard approach by companies to anti-virus solutions, please call ComputerWorX at 561-900-3356 if your anti-virus solution isn't configured correctly.

FREE ANTI VIRUS OPTIONS
For your own review of anti-virus programs, visit PC Magazine's website at http://www.pcmag.com/reviews/antivirus.
You can download good FREE anti-virus for personal use at home from AVG;

their website is http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage.
Microsoft offers a good FREE anti-virus solution for small businesses with up to 10 computers.  You can download Microsoft Security Essentials at http://www.microsoft.com/en-s/security_essentials/default.aspx.
If you still happen to get infected, MalwareBytes is one of the leading tools to clean an infected machine;
it can be downloaded at http://malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free. 
Virus developers and anti-virus companies constantly play leapfrog with one another. Anti-virus companies respond to new threats and release new definitions.  Virus developers then find new ways around those definitions.  And new types of threats are constantly being discovered.  To learn more about the evolving nature of computer threats, download the IT Security white paper at http://www.itsecurity.com/emails/4473.html.