System integrity

Important To protect your system against electrical problems and physical hazards such as heat, moisture, and dust. Also, to protect it against less obvious hazards such as viruses and hardware overloads.

Protecting against viruses

A virus is a program written with malicious intent for the purpose of creating havoc in a computer system.

Viruses spread through executable files, document macros, or boot sectors. Diskettes used in a contaminated computer can get a virus and transfer the virus when used in another computer. A virus can also spread through files downloaded from bulletin boards or the Internet.

Some viruses may only cause your system to beep or display messages or images on the screen. Other viruses are highly destructive, and corrupt or erase the contents of your files or diskettes. To be safe, never assume any virus is harmless. Always protect your system against viruses.

To protect your system against viruses:

■Use Norton’s® AntiVirus to scan your computer regularly. Make sure to update Norton’s® AntiVirus periodically to keep up with new viruses.

■Make backup copies of all files and write-protect the diskettes. A virus cannot infect a write-protected diskette.

■Obtain all software from reputable sources and always scan new software for any viruses before installing it.

■Be cautious about files you receive in e-mail or download from a network or the Internet. If you download a file, use your virus checking software to scan the directory on your computer that contains the downloaded file before you open the file.

■If you have doubts about the source of a Microsoft® Word or Excel file, disable the file macros before opening the file. Word and Excel are set by default to warn you if a document you are about to open contains a macro that might have a virus.

62Managing Your System