Here are some Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly are computer viruses?

Similar to their biological brothers, computer viruses are designed to propagate, traveling from computer to computer to perform some mischief. That mischief may be as innocent as displaying a message that reads, "This Computer is Stoned," or as fatal as wiping out every file on a hard drive. There are more than 48,000 known viruses and 1,000 or so are active.
1. A virus consists of at least two parts: the replication code, which spreads the virus, and the payload, which is the prank or destructive part. Whoever wrote the virus inserts the virus code into an otherwise harmless program. The program -- with the virus -- is distributed through the Internet, on floppy disks, or even on commercial CD-ROMs.
2. Once you open the host program, the parent virus is activated and replicates even further. The virus spreads copies of itself to other drives on your computer and to other computers on the same network. Each of these child viruses becomes a parent virus and replicates even further.
3. A virus may remain dormant for months so it can spread without suspicion. It waits for a trigger, often a specific date to launch itself. If an infected computer boots or an infected program is launched under trigger conditions, the rest of the virus activates to deliver the payload. Typically the virus will destroy the boot record or files on your drive that have certain extensions.
4. Other viruses called worms replicate and spread with great speed. One such worm is an e-mail macro virus, such as Melissa or the Love Bug, which is distributed as an attachment to an innocent-looking message. Merely opening the message to read it activates the macro. A typical macro virus accesses your mail program's address book and sends copies of the infected message to everyone in the book. This begins a chain reaction, with each recipient perpetuating the virus. This in itself can be the macro virus's payload: jamming mail systems with so many messages that the systems are too packed to carry legitimate mail. Other macro viruses destroy files and boot records as well. (courtesy of smartbusinessmag.com)

What is Spam?

This is junk email. Just like the junk snail mail that clutters up your regular mail box, this will clutter up your email box. It is unsolicited commercial email, sent by a company that has no existing business relationship with you to get you to buy something. In other words, mass mailings you didn't ask for and don't want.
**NEVER reply to a spammer or attempt to use a link that they claim will remove you from their list. This just proves to them that there's a real person at this address and you'll get more spam!

What is "Phishing?"

An email or website that appears to come from EBay, your bank, etc. requesting your password, Social Security number or other personal information. NEVER respond to one of these. Look for "https" (s for secure) in the web address.

What is Malware?

Any program installed on your computer that does bad things. Some will send personal information (passwords, etc) back to the originator; some install viruses, Trojan horse programs, etc.; some change your homepage to theirs. There are many of these!

What is a Trojan Horse?

This is another danger to your computer. At first glance it will appear to be useful software but will actually do damage once installed or run on your computer.  Those on the receiving end of a Trojan Horse are usually tricked into opening them because they appear to be receiving legitimate software or files from a legitimate source. When a Trojan is activated on your computer, the results can vary. Some Trojans are designed to be more annoying than malicious or they can cause serious damage by deleting files and destroying information on your system.  Trojans are also known to create a backdoor on your computer that gives malicious users access to your system, possibly allowing confidential or personal information to be compromised. Unlike viruses and worms, Trojans do not reproduce by infecting other files nor do they self-replicate.
(courtesy of computermommy.net)

Yes. Windows Vista includes an automatic updating feature, which you can use to schedule Important and Recommended updates to download and install at a time that you specify, making keeping your PC up-to-date easy and convenient for you. For Optional updates, you'll need to go to the Windows Update control panel and select which updates you'd like to install.
Windows XP offers an automatic update service for High-priority updates. You can install Optional Windows XP updates from the Windows Update website.

Why do I need to install some updates separately, before or after installing other updates?

Sometimes you might need to install an update by itself because the update requires you to restart your PC before it goes into effect. You may, for an example, need to install a new version or a service pack for the software that you're currently running. Or, Windows Update may need to update itself before it can offer you other updates.
To make sure your PC is ready to install these updates, Microsoft encourages you to first install all important updates for your PC. After you've installed all important updates, Windows may ask if you want to install the stand-alone or "exclusive" update by itself.

That depends. If you turn on automatic updating, you don't need to remember to check for Important and Recommended updates for Windows Vista, or High-priority updates for Windows XP. Windows will check for new updates whenever you're online and install them using your automatic updating settings. If you do not use automatic updating, you should check for updates at least once each week. Microsoft generally releases updates that cause a restart on the second or fourth Tuesday of the month. However, some updates may be released at any time in order to offer you the choice to install them and realize the benefits as quickly as possible.
For Optional updates for both Windows Vista and Windows XP, you'll need to go to the Windows Update control panel and select which downloads you'd like to install.

What are the differences between Windows Updates, Automatic Updates, and Microsoft Updates?

While Windows Update provides you with updates specifically for Windows, Microsoft Update expands the service to download and install updates for other Microsoft software, such as Microsoft Office and Windows Live. Automatic updating is a feature that allows you to set your PC to automatically download and install updates using either service, making it easy and convenient for you to keep your Windows PC current.
(courtesy of Microsoft)