The USB Port has been one of the most ingenious inventions that man has made in this era. With its universality and plug-and-play capabilities, there seemed to stem endless possibilities with this connection. Gone were the days of the old floppy disks where the maximum memory that one can save is limited to 2.88 MB. The improvement in data storage has even increased further the external memory that one can use, with flash drives amounting to megabytes or gigabytes of storing capacity. One can even encounter massive 500 gigabytes or 1 terabyte-capacity external hard drives, which can serve as excellent back-up storage for videos, documents, music, or whatever files that one may wish to save. This convenience of portable and instant data storage has been possible because of the USB connection that it uses. Just plug the device into the USB port of the computer, and one can instantly access the files stored in that device.
It is unfortunate however that the ease of data access and transfer using USB flash drives has paved the way for computer viruses, Trojan horses, malwares, and hacking software to glide from one personal computer to another with that same ease.
Thus, it has become crucial to guard one’s personal computer from this malicious software that may come from these external devices. A good investment worth taking is the purchase of reliable and strong anti-virus software. Many excellent programs are ought in the market, and one may choose from the wide variety and select which type is best suited for their computer. One can check review sites to see how the available anti-virus programs fare for both critics and end users.
It is extremely crucial for the owner of a personal computer to scan every USB external device that is plugged into their PC. Users should be careful in allowing USB devices to be connected in their PCs. A person should also not plug their own USB devices in PCs that may look like its infested with a lot of malicious software. One should not just carelessly open the files in the connected flash drives without first scanning for threats. Many of the malicious software existing today activates itself whenever a PC user unknowingly opens programs and files coming from an un-scanned flash drive. Some of these programs even pose as harmless files and folders that are actually executable files to initiate the running of this dangerous software. Scanning the flash drive with a reliable antivirus and anti-malware software enables the detection of these programs and the user may then choose to repair, quarantine, or directly proceed in deleting the threats detected.
The rapid advancement of technology that the world experiences today unfortunately also shows the ever-present threats of new computer viruses and other malicious programs being developed and created on a daily basis. It is therefore important that PC users continuously update anti-virus programs to combat the dangers of malicious programs from entering their computers. Anti-virus software developers try to detect the newest viruses around, and it is important to get the updated virus definitions from these developers and install them in one’s PC, so that the new viruses that one may encounter in the plugging of USBs that were previously plugged in other computers can be combated.