Most people have virus problems on the computer at some point in time or another. The issues computer viruses cause ranging from minor annoyance to completely destroying your data. There are many things that you can do that will help you avoid these problems as much as possible. Learn what you can do to protect yourself.

First of all, never download attachments in your email from people that you do not know. Many times there are attachments in the email from things that look good but really are viruses or even spyware. Don't ever open these attachments as this is a huge source of many people's virus problems.

Watch out about clicking on pop up offers that you see. Many times these are actually from spyware or adware on your computer. These can lead to malicious sites in many cases that could have viruses.

Do not download things from web sites that you can't trust. If it is a place you have never seen or visited before and you are not sure if the download is legitimate or not, it is best to avoid doing the download.

Read real customer reviews about free software before running it on your machine. This will help you avoid downloading and running a program that is really just a virus.

Use less popular software for things like your email program or your browser. At times there are viruses that target these programs. If you avoid using them, you can avoid some of the problems.

Make sure you are always getting your operating system updates. Many times there are security fixes with these updates that will help you avoid having problems with certain malicious files that are really messing up things.

Be sure that you are always using up to date and current virus protection software. Do not run your computer without it or else you are going to have problems. Be sure that the virus protection is also turned on.