Computer systems across the world are constantly threatened by viruses and worms. These malwares are created by disgruntled or malicious programmers, who let loose their treacherous creations on unwary hosts. Oftentimes, the damage that is caused is immense. Due to the severity of the attacks a small cottage industry has grown up to protect systems from viruses and worms.

With a virus that spreads automatically, a huge number of computers can be infected through the Internet and can be very hard to control. Because of this, the virus is the greatest danger to the security of personal computers today.

Companies in the antivirus industry discover large numbers of viruses? everyday. Scores of viruses are latent or dormant and continue to be present long before they are ever noticed. There are viruses that delete files, displays pop-ups, exchange the buttons of your mouse, uninstall Internet Explorer, they can even slow down your computer's fan.

A computers efficiency is reduced tremendously due to viruses and if that wasn't enough they also corrupt files as well as stored data. For that reason, it is imperative to locate and eliminate viruses before the damage occurs.

There are a couple of important precautionary measures you can take and that is:

1. Avoid opening e-mails from people you do not know.

2. Avoid downloading anything from websites that are not well known or trustworthy.

If you land on a website that is providing content that is possibly unlawful or improper you may well be at risk and you would certainly be better off avoiding it.

Another important step is to keep your operating system updated on a regular schedule to reduce the threat to your computer. The Microsoft.com website is a good place to keep track of security patches that have been created to plug the loopholes that viruses exploit.

Now an absolute must for your computer is a reliable antivirus suite. There are many good free anti-virus packages like Avast (avast.com) that are available, although it is best to get reputable antivirus software like Norton or McAfee to deal with viruses and worms.

A few other security measures for your computer are file protection, memory explorers and firewalls, although at times they can conflict with other software, confuse users, or use up scarce resources. It is always good a idea to listen to the advice of security experts to save your system from damages caused by viruses and worms.

Unfortunately, the majorities of people learn these lessons the hard way and realize the risks involved only after they suffered. If you can understand the risks involved, you can take on safety measures to guard your computer from these threats.