Antivirus for a flash drive, or How to protect removable media from malicious programs. Tips for novice users.

Very often, various computer viruses get into the operating system not through the Internet or e-mail, but with the help of a conventional flash drive. And most often the owner of this removable media does not even know that his flash drive is infected with one or more viruses. But how to protect your devices from viruses? Is there an optimal antivirus for the flash drive or another reliable way to protect removable media? You will find answers to these questions in the continuation of this article.

First, let's define what exactly we are going to protect. After all, you can find a good antivirus for the flash drive, able to prevent infection of your removable drive, but which can not cope with more powerful threats that attack the computer or laptop. Therefore it is necessary to understand that the home PC in any case should be equipped with a good firewall and high-quality antivirus software, which can become a reliable protection against any spyware and virus programs. Antivirus on the USB flash drive should be recorded only if you use it quite often in public places (in libraries, the university, different computers may not be properly protected) and you are afraid that you can "infect" your portable device.

One of the best anti-virus programs designed to protect removable media is a free utility called Antirun. This program not only helps to protect your computer from the penetration of various malicious viruses, but also protects your USB flash drive from hitting it with various "network garbage".

Another popular among the advanced users of the program to protect removable drives is the utility "USB Disk Security" (at the time of this writing, its latest version is 5.0.0.76). This software, which is only one megabyte in size, is a compact analog of a real high-grade antivirus that can scan removable media and delete infected files from it.

Another option to protect any removable media connected to the computer using a USB port (it can be not only a USB flash drive, but also a memory card for a digital camera or mobile phone, MP3 player and other equipment) - to prohibit the ability to write any data to this medium Without confirmation of the user for this action. This option will allow you to fully control what, where and when it was written to your media in order to avoid entering malicious programs on it , and then you will not need any antivirus for flash drives.

In order to protect your computer from possible threats from removable media, experienced users recommend that you update your anti-virus databases as often as possible and from time to time completely scan all hard disks and removable media that you regularly use. Antivirus for the flash drive should be installed only if the computer or laptop for some reason remained for a while without reliable anti-virus protection. If this computer has access to the Internet, then it can be scanned for the presence of third-party and potentially dangerous programs, even on-line - this service many leading antivirus vendors offer nowadays completely free.

Do not forget that with careless and careless handling of your computer and removable media from malicious software will not help any antivirus for a USB flash drive or PC. If you regularly check the operating system and its resources with the help of specialized programs, the probability of infection of your computer is practically reduced to zero. The main thing is not to forget to fulfill the simplest requirements for protecting your PC and you do not have to contact the repair shops after any breakdowns related to viruses and other malicious programs.