Sometimes we get asked the question, “How could I have got a virus when I have antivirus protection installed?” Most people have taken the precaution of installing antivirus software, or perhaps had it preinstalled when they purchased their computer. A common problem, however, is that they may not have kept the product up-to-date, or perhaps their operating system & browser have not had the latest “patches” installed. Also, new viruses are appearing all the time, & may infect some computers before a “fix” is written for them. To be effective, antivirus software should be updated regularly. Personally, we like to set our antivirus to automatically check for updates as frequently as possible, which are 3 hourly in our case.
One particular danger with out-of-date antivirus is that it lulls you into a false sense of security. Your antivirus vendor is constantly posting updates as new threats become known. Download and install the latest update when it becomes available, then regularly do a full scan of your system.