Kaspersky Labs UK detects over 36,000 new viruses every day. With so many viruses appearing, it is vital that you keep your antivirus definitions up-to-date.

The best antivirus software will download the latest virus definitions as soon as you start your computer, ensuring that you have the most up-to-date virus protection possible.

Because it discovers so many new viruses each day, Kaspersky updates its virus definitions every two hours to keep you safe throughout the day, every day.

If you use a different sort of antivirus software, make sure it receives regular updates or you could easily fall victim to cybercrime.

Current customers should also regularly update antivirus software to the latest version available.

Other security threats

Viruses are no longer the only threat to your computer. This is why it is vital to understand the protection that is given by your antivirus software.

If your software is merely an antivirus package, your computer may only be protected against viruses and not against other threats such as phishing or malware.

This is why we strongly recommend you upgrade antivirus protection. to a comprehensive product that gives full internet security protection.

In addition to antivirus protection, internet security protection should include a firewall, anti-spam, anti-phishing, anti-banner, parental control, application control and virtual keyboard.

For ultimate protection, try Kaspersky PURE, which includes all the features above plus more.

In order to successfully protect your PC or internet devices from a virus attack, including a worm virus or trojan virus, you must learn how to identify the virus or other threats to your system.

Some common indicators that you have a virus infection are:

Your computer runs slowly or crashes and restarts
Your computer stops responding, locks up or doesn’t run normally
Applications on your computer don’t work correctly
Disks or disk drives are not accessible
You see unusual error messages
While these are common signs of infection, they also may have nothing to do with a virus at all. To be sure, you can either check individual files or your entire system with a free virus scan.

You should then enhance your Windows file security by installing the latest antivirus software for Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 antivirus features.

Recognise virus threats

Antivirus software goes a long way in giving PC virus protection, but you will be even safer if you understand how to recognise virus threats and avoid them.

A malware virus works by infecting your system with malware or a worm which accesses your e-mail contacts and spreads to them. In this way hackers can also gain access to your important personal files and passwords. It is important to know how to identify these threats.

The first rule of identifying viruses is to be aware of any unexpected attachments, links within e-mails, or e-mail content that seems odd. For example, if you receive an e-mail purporting to be from a bank such as Barclays or NatWest, it is unlikely the e-mail would contain spelling mistakes, exclamation marks or use inappropriate language. Neither would an official e-mail ever ask for your PIN or account details.

The best protection, however, is a reliable antivirus software product that works quietly in the background of your computer and takes up minimal system resources, yet will still detect all infections and place them in quarantine so you can easily view and deal with them as required.

If, like most people, you are new to the world of social networking, it’s important to know how to protect yourself from cybercrime and virus infections while networking online.

Cyber vandalism

It used to be that your computer was mainly under threat from the likes of a malware virus or worm virus. Although these are ever-present issues, they have been joined by additional malicious programs, or malware, that spread even quicker than before and with even greater damage.

Often called ‘cyber vandalism’, you can protect yourself from these threats with the right antivirus software program and by being aware of social networking security issues you can reduce the risk of these threats.

Social network security

Social networking is all the rage these days – Facebook, MySpace, bebo, myspace, LinkedIn, Hi5, Orkut, Twitter. The names may sound strange to the uninitiated, but for hundreds of millions of computer users around the world, these social networks offer efficient and powerful ways to communicate with friends, family and colleagues.

Many people spend countless hours on social networks, sharing everything from photographs and videos to personal messages and notes with potentially millions of others around the globe.

Cyber threats are especially evident with the increased risk of social networking sites and cyber-criminals are increasingly targeting web surfers on popular social networking sites.

As with email attachments, social network users must think carefully before clicking on a link to, from or within any social networking site. Any link could contain a virus infection that can quickly spread to all your friends, contacts and colleagues.

PC protection for you – and your friends!

It is important to remember that you can endanger the security of your friends’ computers as well as your own when networking.

For example, if you click on untrusted links or use easily-guessable passwords to protect your personal data, then you are not only endangering yourself, but also the people around you. Most notably, you are endangering the very friends that you communicate with on social networking sites.

Having gained access to your account, an attacker can impersonate you and send your friends messages that appear to originate from you.

If you use social networking websites, be sure to take the simple step of protecting you and your friends with internet security software such as Kaspersky Internet Security. If you’re not sure if this is the right product for you, start with a free antivirus trial, or compare products to find the best solution for your social networking security