Avoid Being Infected Through USB Flash Drives

Nowadays, a lot of portable storage devices are available in the market. CD, DVD, Blue Ray, Flash Drive (USB), name it and you'll find it almost anywhere. No doubt almost everyone has his own storage device, Flash Drive to be specific.

Though it may be very convenient to use one, the truth is it's one of the leading cause of the spread of computer viruses. Computer shop owners are fully aware of this. Some computer shops are spending much on maintenance because every now and then a virus attack damages the system of the computers.

Some computer shops take this problem by forbidding the use of flash drives. This may be a good idea to avoid being infected from flash drives but It's a silly decision for the business. By doing so, you are driving customers away!

Home users do you think your safe from this menace? ? ?

I don't think so. You may say, "There's no possibility that a flash drive would be inserted into my computer because I have everything that I need in a whole set." but there might be instances wherein you have to bring home a soft copy (file) of a project that your classmate did or perhaps a file from work that is needed to be continued at home. In such cases, you would probably be using a flash drive and if the computer where the file originated was infected with a certain virus, the virus would most probably infect your computer as well.

Don't worry! There are measures you could do to avoid, or at least lessen, the chance of being infected.

Here are simple measures you could do:

• Install an AntiVirus - this is a basic protection that is necessary to every computer. (I use AVG Free)
  
• Install Anti-Malware and Anti-Spyware - these are not alternatives for AntiVirus but rather tools that aid your AntiVirus. (I'm using Malwarebytes' Anti Malware & SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition)
  
• Keep your Softwares updated - not only the softwares mentioned above but also your operating system (windows update). Having an outdated software is almost like not having it at all. Updates are necesary to protect your system from new threats.
• Disable AutoRun - this is a little more technical but it's definitely important! Some advance viruses run into your system as soon as your device runs, making it more infectious. (Click here for the procedure)
  

Maximize Online Forums to Your Benefit

New to the computer world? Want to know what is the best software or anti-virus for your computer? Having problems with your computer? Or perhaps, you want to share your knowledge about computers?

Maybe you're one of those who do it old school. Stop using Yahoo, Google, or other search engines to answer your problems. Though search engines may be helpful to gain bits of information from the Web, I don't advice to be use it for answering your computer problems (specially if it involves delicate items such as your computer's registry).

The Web connects you from your computer to the rest of the world. It allows you to access different beneficial articles but at the same time it may also connect you to a lot of poisonous sites. This makes you vulnerable to computer infections.

Here are some tips to make your computer safe and secure on the net. Click here.

Going back to using search engines to solve your computer infections. I suggest that joining an Online Forum is better.

Advantages of Online Forums:

• You could ask directly to more experienced users and to experts.
  
• There are times that the problem of your computer is more than what you can notice. In such cases, careful analysis of processes that run in your system is necessary and this is only done by experts who are trained to do such task.
• There are also some online forum sites that post info that may be useful for basic troubleshooting or just to learn more on how your machine and you can work together better.

Disadvatage of Online Forums:

By joining Online Forums, you expose yourself to a lot of information coming from different sources. Some of these may be harmful for your system, specially if you're troubleshooting your machine. Wrong Information may make the condition worse.

Conclusion:

There are a lot of things that you could utilize by joining Online Forums but by doing so you might also be exposing yourself to unreliable information. The key to avoid this is to choose a reliable site and use your personal knowledge before trusting / trying any advice. Your ample computer knowledge may save your computer from being a mere piece of computer chips. But above all make sure to BACK-UP YOUR FILES before doing anything to your computer.

Here's a Site that I recommend:
www.bleepingcomputer.com

I personally use this site and so far I haven't encountered any misleading information. Just take some time to read the basics of the site and everything will go smoothly.

For those who are interested here's my username on that site:
cosmic_sniper05