Of the many things that the "New Year" brings with it are new computer viruses.

In fact, several viruses have been released that attempt to specifically take advantage of the confusion that some will experience with Y2K related issues.

But there's good news too. Computer Associates is giving away a new anti-virus program that's designed for the individual user (as opposed to corporate installations).

The "Inoculate-IT" software can be downloaded and installed directly from their web site at: http://www.cai.com

As a former user of both Symantac and MacAfee anti-virus programs, I can strongly recommend this new software as being current, convenient and reliable.

Installation was a breeze, the program is easy to configure, I barely had to read the directions and it comes with a "one click" update option so you can be assured that you're anti-virus protection is always current.

Best of all, the program hasn't crashed my system, interfered with Internet downloads or taken an eternity to update it's virus protection files - problems I've had with the other programs I've used.

To make virus fighting a bit smoother, I used the "Options" menu to make a few changes that you might consider for yourself:

• Under the "Program" section I choose to disable running the program "automatically" at startup, as I've found that having antiviral software always running in the background can create problems.
• I also disabled the "Real Time Protection" as it could also interfere with other programs and with Internet downloading as well.

Instead of having the software run automatically, and at all times, I prefer to use the program only after downloading files from the Internet, or receiving attachments via email - these being the biggest virus risk factors most of us tend to face.

If you're not currently using antiviral software, or aren't satisfied with your current program, then give "Inoculate-IT" a try, it's a program I'd gladly pay for, except that it's free.

Published: January 6, 2000

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