Top 10 Ways To Protect Yourself From Computer Viruses

executive summarize , written by Jim Faller

As more and more people are becoming comfortable using their computers at school, home or in the office it's only a matter of time before they encounter a computer virus. Here are our top 10 steps to protect you from computer viruses.
Use a high quality anti-virus program. There are many different anti-virus computers programs on the market some of them are better than others. Look to reputable computer magazines or websites for ratings to help you find the one that matches your needs.
Always use your anti-virus software. Make sure your anti-virus software is always turned on and scanning, incoming and outgoing email messages, and any software programs you run.
Keep your antivirus programs up to date. Keep your computer up to date. From time to time operating systems fall victim to security holes or issue updates. Backup your data regularly. Most windows computer users keep their documents in the "My documents" folder.
If you use floppy disks or USB drives on public computers like your school computer lab Kinko's, or even digital photo printing store make sure you scan them for viruses. Public computers are notorious for not being up to date and properly protected.
Be wary of email attachments. Treat any email attachment as potentially dangerous. Never open attachments from people you weren't expecting. Many computer viruses replicate themselves by reading the contacts from an infected computer.
Use text email if possible. While HTML email is prettier and allows you more control over formatting it also can carry computer viruses. Use downloaded freeware and shareware files or software with caution. Try to download them from popular reputable sources that scan the programs before they are uploaded. To make sure you are safe scan the program before you install it on your computer.
Be wary of links in IM or instant messaging software. Don't accept invitations from people you don't know and never click a link from someone you don't trust, they can easily redirect you to another website that will try to install a virus on your computer system.

How to Protect Yourself from Viruses, Adware, Spyware and Hackers

Spyware/adware is a new major concern for PC users everywhere. Infecting your computer silently (usually installed with programs that seem harmless), spyware and adware can collect personal information about you, as well as cause pop up ads to come up all of the time, changing your browsers home page, sometimes even completely disabling your computer's usability.

The first thing you can do, if you're an Internet Explorer user, is consider making a switch to the Mozilla Firefox web browser. Plus it is almost completely spyware “proof”, and is much more stable and secure than Internet Explorer. To do so, you'll want to download all available updates from windowsupdate.microsoft.com (if you use Firefox, you will need to fire up IE to do this since Microsoft doesn't like people to use other browsers, so they have “banned” Firefox from accessing Windows updates).

Now that you've got a secure browser and have Windows up to date, it's time to talk about the anti-spyware software. The following is a list of the top three players in the free anti-spyware software game:

Spybot Search & Destroy
Download from: safer-networking.org
If you're only going to download one program, get this. Spybot is known as the king of spyware removal – and is completely free, ran buy a guy who volunteers his free time to keeping Spybot up to date.

Lavasoft's Ad-Aware
Download from: lavasoftusa.com
Ad-Aware is technically a for-profit program, but they have a freeware version of their paid software, which is just as good, in my opinion. Microsoft's Newly Released Anti-Spyware
Downlaod from: microsoft.com
Not a must-have if you have the above two programs, but it actually is a pretty good program

An Easy way to Deal with Email Viruses and Worms

If you feel intimidated when someone tries to teach you something new on the computer, this article is for you!

In the course of my career, I’ve worked with many people who I knew were smart but were convinced that they couldn’t learn how to do new things on a computer. At some point, they’d convinced themselves that they weren’t one of those “computer people”. I have a degree in psychology. I’m not a math and science type of person, and if it weren’t for the patience of my tech-minded husband and friends, I never would have learned how to do these things.

The fact is, computers are such a part of our lives, that you can’t afford to think of yourself as not a “computer person”. The reason I think that a lot of people are intimidated when learning about computers is that so much of the instructions and directions are full of jargon and assume that people have as much technological knowledge as people who work with computers for a living.

All it takes is an open mind, confidence, and someone to explain things to you step by step in plain English.
Aside from using anti-virus software, there is another way to keep some email viruses or worms from driving you crazy and clogging up your inbox. If you would like to prevent these bogus Emails from reaching your inbox, you can set up rules in Outlook or Outlook Express to send them directly to the delete folder.
Although the Sobig virus seems to be under control, it might be good practice to do this now. That way when the next big virus comes around, you'll be able to filter it out right away. If you're smart enough to do your taxes and balance your checkbook, you can do this, trust me.

If you're using Outlook Express, go to Tools, then select "message rules" and then "mail". A box will pop up with buttons on the right side of the window. Hit the "new" button. Another box pops up with three windows. In the first box, click the box next to "Where the subject line contains specific words".
In the second box, click "delete it". Now in the third box it should say, "Apply this rule after the message arrives/Where the Subject line contains specific words/Delete it." Click on the words "contains specific words".
It’s very important to remember that this is case sensitive, meaning that if you put "abc" in, it will only delete emails with "abc" in the subject, and not "ABC" or "Abc". For the Sobig virus, there were seven subject lines that were commonly used. If you would like to read more about this, go to

Steps to Protect your MS Windows System from Viruses

Nowadays as the Internet and other networks are greatly developed computer viruses are distributed rapidly and intensively. Everyday several new viruses capable to damage considerably your computer system arise. Anti-virus specialists work hardly to make updates their software against new viruses as soon as possible. Only series of measures can give you reliable protection from the infection. Below are 9 steps to protect MS Windows based PC system from viruses.

1. Make regular backups. Virus creators regularly find holes in new computer products to use them for infection of computer systems. Some dangerous viruses can considerably damage data files or even erase entire file system. Make regular backups of your data files to separate file storage device. It can be separate hard drive, flash card, compact disc or another file storage device which you choose. To ease the procedure you can use some automatic backup software. And be ready if the system will die because of virus infection.

2. Be ready to reinstall your system if it dies because of viruses. 3. Protect your network connection with Firewall. Firewall is a software which blocks suspicious potentially dangerous connections to preventing viruses from network to penetrate into your system. Windows XP system has quit simple but reliable built-in firewall. 1) in Control Panel, double-click Networking and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections. 2) Right-click the connection on which you would like to enable firewall, and then click Properties. 3) On the Advanced tab, check the option to Protect my computer and network.

click here

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Product Description Modern Warfare 2 is a first-person tactical shooter and the sixth entry in the popular Call of Duty series. True to its name and following the lead of its predecessor, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, it places players in modern combat settings, as opposed to the WWII environments of the earlier Call of Duty games. This modern approach brings with it new weapons, action and options. Coupled with a variety of gameplay modes including single player, multiplayer and the co-op Special Ops Mode, it is destined to be one of the most popular games of 2009 and a worthy addition to the Call of Duty series. 


Classic tactical FPS action.
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Customizable multiplayer perk system.
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Diverse in-game environments.
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New weapons and gadgets.
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Story
The storyline of Modern Warfare 2 picks up where the events of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare left off. The ultranationalist Russian leader Zakhaev has been eliminated, but it seems that his lieutenant, Vladimir Makarov, is an even bigger danger. Having made a successful play for power, Intel indicates that he is extending the reach of his influence well beyond the borders of Mother Russia, causing a stir in the international community and prompting the involvement of Task Force 141. Task Force 141 is an elite multinational unit made up of Navy Seals, Delta Force operatives, British SAS and CIA. In the single player campaign you are Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson, with the hero of Call of Duty 4, "Soap" MacTavish, promoted to Captain, making an appearance as an NPC (non-player character) and your commanding officer. The elimination of Makarov and his underlings at any cost is your number one priority, regardless where the fight occurs. 

Gameplay
The latest release in arguably the most successful tactical first-person shooter franchise of all-time, gameplay in Modern Warfare 2 follows the same winning and time-tested structure of earlier games in the series. In the single player campaign players are aided by AI squad members as they take on a series of missions aimed at eliminating Ultranationalist forces. Each mission is built around a particular objective, with players utilizing some level of guidance from NPC characters, including "Soap" MacTavish, and aided in navigation by the game's heads up display (HUD). Along the way players will be able to utilize a wide variety of weaponry and and vehicles, as well as be able to customize weapons with gadgets attached to them. 

Also, just as in previous games in the series, Modern Warfare 2 is heavily focused on multiplayer gameplay. The different multiplayer modes, available both in local play and online, contain plenty of customization options and revolve around different strategies ranging from the every man for himself action of "Free-for All," the classic team-based fun of "Capture the Flag and the tactical, team-oriented action of "Search and Destroy," just to name a few. Multiplayer modes also feature the "Perk" System that players may be familiar with from earlier in the franchise. Through this system players gain additional abilities, weapons and benefits as they gain experience in combat. This can be done by leveling up, but another important way way is through "kill streaks," the number of enemies eliminated in succession. These are available beginning with three kills and include the ability to call for supply drops, predator missile strikes, helicopter gunships and many more. Players have the ability to customize in advance which perks will be available at each number and can even gauge their progress towards each at the touch of a button. With an eye towards not making the game too hard for new players the game also features help to players experiencing "death streaks," multiple consecutive deaths in multiplayer matches. 

Special Ops Co-op Mode
Along with a single player mode and multiple multiplayer modes, Modern Warfare 2 also features an unique third main play option, Special Ops Mode. Available both online and in local play, Special Ops Mode is designed to provide a distinct time-based play option, featuring special scenarios not found in other modes in the game and lots of enemies to take on. This mode can be played either alone or with a friend, again either locally or online, with local co-op play including split-screen functionality. 

Key Game Features 
Challenging Multiplayer Modes – Modern Warfare 2 will contain a wealth of multiplayer modes including: the every man for himself action of "Free-for All," the classic team-based fun of "Capture the Flag and the tactical, team-oriented action of "Search and Destroy."
Improved AI Enemies – Improved artificial intelligence now allows enemies to attack from virtually any direction as players respawn into the game adding additional challenges.
An All-new Call of Duty Adventure - Modern Warfare 2 features an all new Call of Duty storyline revolving around the continuing struggles against the Russian rebel group the Ultranationalists, who have found a new and more dangerous leader.
The 'Special Ops' Optional Co-op Mode – "Special Ops" Mode allows two players, either alone or with a friend, to engage in unique mission play and features split-screen functionality.
Diverse In-game Environments - Battlegrounds traversed in the game range from the lonely, snow-clad mountains of Kazakhstan, to dark tunnels in the Afghanistan and the crowded slums of Rio.
Nonstop Action - Modern Warfare 2 contains no cutscenes, so players are always engaged in the action, no matter where they are in the game.
New Breach Gameplay Mechanic - Players can now blaze their own paths through the game by "Breaching" formerly impregnable obstacles like walls and doors with explosives.
New Gadgets, Weapons and Weapons System Modern Warfare 2 contains many new and updated weapons, new weapons attachments, as well as a variant of the multiplayer weapons customization system from Call of Duty 4, now available in the single player campaign.
New Perks and Increased Customization - Multiplayer modes feature new perks for leveling up, and for killstreaks and deathstreaks. Those awarded for streaks can customized in advance according to when they become available.

Customer Reviews

Pinball FPS 
I've been hammering through the game for two days straight so right off the bat... Don't bother with the single player campaign, it is a waste of time. The dated and shallow play mechanics are right out of the late 90s and you can run through it in about 4 or 5 hours. After mammoth games like Metal Gear Solid 4 or Uncharted 2, the main game just does not cut the mustard in this day and age. But if you bought this game to play as Soap McTavish, you don't really care. For me, just like its predecessor, Modern Warfare 2 is all about multiplayer. 

You are going to read rave after rave review of Modern Warfare 2 from anywhere you look. Much like what happened with COD4, the reviews hardly take a broad, measured look at the full experience. Let's fan the flames of hype a little and take a good look at some of the shortcomings in the game. 

A friend of mine asked about the "No Russians" mission on SP. There really isn't much to say. You can skip it or just watch, or you can participate. The level feels like an experiment they left in. When their single player game lasts only about 4 and a half hours, with lame trophies (or Achievements on XBL), throwing in a shock level for attention makes some sense. The content is maybe over the line a little. But in my feeling, "No Russians" is a poster boy for Infinity Ward's Virtua Cop rails gameplay. Stick to the "Bling" in MP. 

Sound effects are great. The game runs mostly smooth. There are some frame drops when there is a lot of smoke on screen. Overall, the graphics get the job done on the strength of the consistent frame rate, but not on beauty. The engine looked dated in COD4 and though it looks better now, Modern Warfare 2 is not up to par with the best of 2009. 

Maps are hit and miss. Some are well done with some verticality to them. Others look like they were designed in 10 minutes. Though most of the maps seem large, they feel a little on the small side. Besides the "Rust" map, which for some reason never comes up to play, there isn't a good equal to "Shipment" from COD4 (either you love it or hate it) and that is a little disappointing, but there are expansions coming. 

On the PS3 you still can't listen to your local music collection when playing. 

Lag is still a problem from time to time. I would hope in future updates, Infinity Ward can pull out a better ping filter. Host migration is implemented, but that doesn't mean it always works. I have a solid 10meg connection and games still end from "lost host connection" errors. 

There are tons of kill streak bonuses and perks. In fact there are so many, it doesn't feel that special to get a kill streak anymore. Calling in an airstrike and then following it with a devastating chopper strafing run always felt good. Even if you got them over and over again in COD4. 

Sure there are lots of new perks and upgrades, but one annoyance I have with MW2 is sometimes it just feels like you are playing a pinball machine. There is so much XP, rings and points popping up, you can get points from anything you do. BAM! WAP! Its like watching an old Batman tv show sometimes. Which is...well...kinda lame. I think the simplified old system was probably better. 

Ok so the game is far from perfect and I just wanted somebody to say it. Modern Warfare 2 is a lot of fun, but feels a bit dated. The game play is fast and furious online, but there are more than a few rough edges to be found. Nevertheless, its a good time sink online. 

8/10

Short Story...An Eternity of Gaming! 
Just like its most recent predecessors, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: World at War, the campaign portion of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a really fun game with extremely intense battle sequences. The downfall is that it's very very short. So let me start by saying that if you're not set up to, or you just don't intend to, play the online co-op or multiplayer modes, you really want to think twice before paying full price for this game. Single players either need to rent this or wait for an inexpensive used copy to go on sale. 

So you get three game options: Special Ops (online isn't necessary, but at least two players are required for some of the missions), Multiplayer (designed to be played online; this is no fun split-screen with a max of 4 players), and the single player Campaign that took me less than 6 hours to finish. 

In single player Campaign mode, you're a first person shooter (soldier) on the frontlines, and this time the frontlines aren't limited to overseas territories. Primarily you're playing separate, interlacing missions all over the world as two different characters. The story takes place several years after CoD 4 ended. And just as in CoD 4 you're with a team of characters that are truly your band of Artificial Intelligence brothers. On easier settings the AI soldiers can do practically all of the work for you on some missions; the help you might get from your team is based on the difficulty setting you've chosen. So unless you want to just glide through the game, definitely don't pick the Recruit difficulty (the other difficulty options are Regular, Hardened and Vet). 

I could take away a star from the overall score of this game for how short the single player mode is, but I won't....All of a sudden it's not so short when you go back and try to play on the Vet setting and spend the time looking for all of the Intel items. 

You arrive in single player boot camp just like in all of the previous CoDs, and you get a brief tutorial on how to maneuver around, shoot your weapons & throw grenades. After boot camp you get to choose the difficulty setting, then you're immediately strewn into various battles. (Once you've completed the game on any setting you can go back to various chapters to clean up any items or trophies missed, and at the start of each chapter you can choose to attempt on the higher difficulties.) 

You fight your way through some intense chapters....really intense. In fact, when you first start off, there's even a warning that you'll be in for some VERY disturbing sequences, and you have the option to tell the game to skip "offensive material". Ummm...no thanks. I think that this is the first game that I've played that offers the option to censor itself if you choose the option. The story is a bit choppy at times, but the battles are wild. The graphics are out of this world, and some of the "familiar territory" scenes will just blow you away with how much it really looks like your own back yard. 

The weapons are plentiful and sophisticated. You're shooting whichever modern-day weapon you happen to have picked up along your objective route. Objectives that guide you along are updated regularly as you complete each task throughout each chapter. And some of those tasks are brutal. There are frequent checkpoints (I think I remember even reaching new checkpoints without firing a single shot) in the campaign, so no need to worry about respawning back before what seemed to take an eternity to complete. On the other hand.... 

....There is the Special Ops portion of the game. I think that there are 23 different missions for you here, and you can play each one by trying to earn 1, 2 or 3 stars in each mission. Some of these are darn hard, especially the final 3-star unlocks. You will be frustrated by playing some of these a few times before you beat the levels to earn your stars. And there are no checkpoints in these missions, so if you fail in the final moments of a mission, you start over from the beginning of that mission. 

Special Ops is most fun with a partner. It's best online so that you get to play full screen, but if you have a guest over you can play split screen offline. For all you World at War players looking for Zombies, you're out of luck here. You get Special Ops instead. There was a silly rumor that MW2 would have an "Alien Invaders" mode that would rival the Zombie mode of WaW, but that indeed was just a silly rumor. 

Online Multiplayer is where you'll get addicted. No AI brothers here...just your fellow gamers. You'd better have your FPS skills honed if you think that you'll score better than some of the MW2 online players. A very high percentage of the online players have been honing their skills online for years now with CoD4 and World at War. 

The concept with Multiplayer is certainly not new. The more you play, the higher you rank allowing you to unlock more (fine tuned) weapons. The game sets you up in matches with people at your level and rank, but that ain't gonna help you if you're new (you will be fondly referred to as a noob by your swell fellow online players) and you're up against the CoD4 or WaW vets. 

What makes MW2 Multiplayer more than just a new map pack for CoD4 is that the Multiplayer weapons and perk system are vastly improved. And so is connectivity (so it seems in the initial week of play after a few day one and two glitches). You get 10 times the amount of points for the kills and captures that you're used to getting only 5 or 10 points for in CoD4 and WaW. You also now get points for not just killing and capturing, but for taking out enemy air support, coming back from deathstreaks, killing your nemesis, breaking an enemy's streak and other stuff. Yeah, Multiplayer is good fun, habitual and bad for a marriage. 

So all in all Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is major fun. The only drawbacks to this awesome game are that the campaign is really short and the multiplayer action is a bit familiar. But the MW2 Multiplayer improvements over its predecessors far out weigh the familiarity. 

Modern Warfare 2 is a must for FPS fans. Add it to your cart, soldier! 

Just What I Was Looking For 
First, let me start by saying I do not have any of the other games in the line of CoD. I do, however, have Resistance 2 as well as the full line of Battlefield games for PC. In addition, I would consider myself a casual gamer. I do enjoy a good game, but I won't let it consume my life and I could really care less if I may happen to have the lowest level out of all members on my team. =) 

Now, for my simple review. 

I gave this 5 stars across the board. 

Likes: 
- Single player mission: 
(NOTE: As I am one to take my time on single player stuff, I have only completed about 1/3 of this) 
Pretty damn sweet. Awesome graphics, chilling sound and pretty good storyline. 

- Special-Ops co-op: 
One of the main things I look for in a game is the ability to play online with my friends in other parts of the country. Co-op is a muge plus for doing this. Thus far, co-op has been a lot of fun. Although MW2 appears to not have quite as much co-op missions stuff as Resistance 2, it is still a nice addition to the game. 

- Multiplayer on-line: 
Simply, amazing. Lot's of extravagant maps with a bunch of different options on how you can play them. This will be the lasting power to the game with the endless action and enjoyment it brings to gamers from all corners. 

Dislikes: 
Nada