How can I protect my PC against viruses and malicious code?

Always install and enable anti-virus software or malicious code detection and repair tools. You can also consider similar products that work against spyware and adware. You should enable and configure the live update feature of your virus signature and malicious code definition files, if available, setting the frequency to update daily. If automatic update is not possible, manual updates should be conducted at least once a week.


In addition, users should:
�� Enable real-time detection to scan, for example, email attachments, files on removable media, and files downloaded from the Internet.
��
Schedule a regular full system scan.
��
Regularly review and apply the latest security patches/hot-fixes released by product vendors for operating systems and application programs.
��
Before installing any software, verify its integrity (e.g. by comparing checksum values) and ensure it is free of computer viruses and malicious code.
��
Avoid using personal Internet email, which is more susceptible to computer virus infection. If personal Internet email services must be used for business purposes, emails should be downloaded to an isolated computer via a dedicated Internet connection.
��
Always boot from the primary hard disk. As far as possible, do not boot workstations from removable storage devices.
��
Backup your data regularly.
If you suspect your computer is infected, you should stop using it, because that may spread the computer virus or malicious code further. If it is your office computer or mobile device, you should report the incident to the management and LAN/System Administrator immediately.

While you can use anti-virus software to clean malicious code, it may not be possible to fully recover infected files. You should replace any infected files with original copies from your backup systems. After recovery, a complete scan of your PC and other removable storage media is vital to ensure everything is now free of viruses or malicious code.