Health officials are saying that the present flu season may be one of the worst in recent memory.   Unfortunately, it may also be one of the worst for viruses infecting your computer, as well.  Many people fool themselves into thinking that so long as they keep their computer security software up to date, they are impervious to dangerous computer viruses, but unfortunately, just as a flu shot cannot guarantee that you will not get sick, security software, although an essential part of your computer, cannot totally protect you from viruses and other malware that you may unwittingly download.  With more than 49 million types of malware out there, the security software industry is always playing catch up when it comes to software security programs.  A recent study done by Imperva, a data security firm, found that when 40 of the top security software programs were tested against 82 of the newest viruses, the effective detection rate was only 5%.  Presently it takes about a month before software security companies are able to update their products to combat new malware.

TIPS

So how do you protect your computer, smart phone and other portable devices from potentially devastating viruses?  The first thing you do is to still make sure that you do have security software on all of your devices and keep the software continually up to date.  But that is not the end of your job.  As I indicated, you still can be vulnerable to viruses and malware that your software may not yet protect you from so it is absolutely critical that you make sure that you make good decisions and never click on links or download attachments unless you are absolutely sure that they are safe.  Otherwise, you may be downloading malware and viruses that your computer is not protected against.