जापनिज रेष्टुरेन्टमा बाँदरले वेएटर (Waiter)को काम गर्न थाले।

 फोटो र भिडियो हेर्नको लागि यो लिंकमा थिच्नुहोस

A Japanese tavern owner is bringing up a new generation of customer pleasing waiters: macaque monkeys.

Kayabuki, the Izakaya (Japanese Tavern) where monkeys serve you beer and towels! located about a $20 taxi ride from Utsunomiya Station in Tochigi Prefecture of Japan. About 2 hours north of Tokyo. This is a tiny place with really friendly owners and fun monkeys.

7 Ways to Increase your Facebook Likes

As Jeff Bullas says, “Growing your Facebook “likes” are social media’s version of building the traditional email subscribers list.”

A “Like” on your Facebook Page is not just a vanity metric. It signifies a real person showing interest in your business. They’ve opened a 24/7 communication channel with you. I, for one, think this is very powerful.

Facebook allows you to keep your customers warm in a friendly non-invasive way. There are only so many times a person will shop at your store in a month or year, depending on your industry, respectively. Even promotional emails with 10% off coupons can become tired and end up people’s spam folder over time. So to keep a person warm between purchases, Facebook posts are key.

Even with Facebook’s Edgerank giving each Page Post reach to just 16% of it’s Fans, a Fan is worth a lot to your business. It gives you the ability to actively promote your business to a potential customer at any time. If you need a quick refresher, or introduction, check out the 4 Factors Facebook’s EdgeRank Uses to Determine Your Posts’ Reach

Increasing your Facebook Likes can be done using a variety of methods, both on Facebook or off it. So don’t fret if you’re just starting. These methods apply to both advanced users and noobs. 

As you’ll soon see, your secret weapons for increasing your Facebook Likes will be like-gates and Facebook’s Like Button plugin. Let’s dive into the Top 7 (IMHO) Ways to Increase your Facebook Likes.

1) to Increase Facebook Likes: Contests

Contests are the easiest way to get people excited and draw new users in as Facebook Fans. The lure of a big prize, that is relevant to your specific target market, make it a no-brainer for your target customers to “Like” your Page and become your fan.

How does a contest get people to “Like” your Page and become a Fan?

Most 3rd party contest apps, like Wishpond, come equipped with a handy feature called a Like-Gate. This feature makes the entry page within a contest app hidden to users unless they have “Liked” your Facebook Page.

A like-gate is usually a simple image with a text telling users who don’t like your Facebook Page that they need to like it to access the current contest. Once a non-fan likes your Facebook Page, the app will automatically reload to show the default entry or voting page on which the user can enter the contest. Most 3rd party Facebook apps, including all of Wishpond’s, have like-gating as a built-in feature, so you can easily enable it for any contest.

I suck at PhotoShop! How can I get a professional like-gate image for my Contest?

Most 3rd party Facebook apps, including all of Wishpond’s, have default like-gate images that look great and are tailored to the type of contest you’re running.

Is it against Facebook’s Promotions Guidelines to like-gate a contest on a Facebook Page?

No! As the act of liking the Facebook Page does not enter a user into a contest, it is within Facebook’s Promotions Guidelines. On the flip side, if you run a contest that uses Facebook’s functionality as an entry or voting mechanism, then you are in violation of Facebook’s Promotions Guidelines.

Like-gated contests are great for creating high-converting Facebook Ads. As I’ll explain in Method #4 to Increase Facebook Like: Facebook Ads you need to provide an incentive to get clicks on your Facebook Ads.

2)  to Increase Facebook Likes: Like-Gated Coupons

Coupons are a great evergreen promotion. Something small like a 10% off coupon gives people an incentive to buy while keeping your margins (relatively) intact. The optimal way to use coupons though is to have them require an action to access them (that does not require much work).

Pagemodo’s Custom Tabs make it easy to create a like-gate coupon with built-in coupon codes. Wishpond’s Group Offers app allow you to only make your coupon redeemable after a certain number of people have claimed it. This pushes people to share with their friends to unlock the coupon, driving even more likes for your Page. Check out an example Group Offer below:

One easy way to drive traffic to your like-gated coupon is to add a call-to-action in the header of your website. This makes it easy to capture people as fans, as they are already in the mindset of buying from you. Check out an example of this below:

Like-gated coupons are perfect for creating high-converting Facebook Ads. As I’ll discuss in detail in Method 4 to Increase Facebook Like: Facebook Ads you need to provide an incentive to get clicks on your Facebook Ads.

3) to Increase Facebook Likes: Like-Gated Ebooks

Sometimes educational content is a better incentive than a discount offer or prize, depending on your industry or target market. B2B companies especially are driving tons of new fans and customers by providing helpful content completely free to the public.

A normal ebook will have a download page housed on a website that includes a form you must fill out to access the ebook. By housing the ebook download form inside of a Tab on your Page, you can like-gate it to increase your Facebook Likes.

This also helps to improve the conversion rate of your Facebook Ads. Studies have shown that Facebook Ads that link to Pages within Facebook result in a higher conversion rate than those that link to pages outside of Facebook.

Check out an example below of a typical like-gate that we use for our ebooks on the Wishpond Facebook Page:

You can create a like-gated ebook using the online form builder Wufoo. They have an out-of-the-box app that allows you to easily add a form inside of a Tab on your Facebook Page. Check out how to create one on your Page here.

4) to Increase Facebook Likes: Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads are the easiest way to increase your Facebook Likes (IMHO). Why? Because you’re guaranteed visibility of your brand to a highly targeted audience.

One key thing to remember though is that Facebook Ads are not the same as Google Adwords. Adwords only require you to state what your offering in clear terms to be effective. This is because the ad appears when a person searches for that specific offering, so they will click on what is most relevant at the time.

This isn’t the case for Facebook Ads though.

A Facebook Ad though appears while a person is just browsing around, so they most likely won’t have intent to purchase your products at that time. So you need to provide an incentive to drive clicks on your Facebook Ads. You can provide a good incentive by using the three methods discussed above: Contests, coupons and ebooks.

Use Facebook’s objective-based “Get More Page Likes” right-column ad for this. These ads allow you to target only people who do not already like your page, can link to a Page Tab and include a Like Button on the ad itself. In the ad below we use a formula for the description that is optimized purely for getting more likes.

The basic formula is ‘“Like” us to __’. This formula can be used to drive Likes based on any kind of incentive. Here are a few you can try:

    “Like” us to get an Exclusive 15% Off coupon
    “Like” us to get the Free Guide to Facebook Engagement
    “Like” us to win a $100 spa treatment

These ads are great because they can link directly to a Facebook Page Tab. So even if a person clicks through instead of clicking the “Like” button, you can still capture them as a new fan with a like-gated ebook, coupon or contest.

I’ve found the most success using images of people. Studies have shown that users like to click on them. It makes them happy and draws them in. It’s more subtle than say a big red arrow, but it gets a higher click-through rate.


5) to Increase Facebook Likes: Add a “Like” button or box to your blog

A great way to capture visitors to your blog in a fairly non-invasive way is to get them to Like your Facebook Page. Many people are averse to signing up for emails due to spam and phishing threats, so a like can be an easy alternative.

But make it easy for them. Don’t make visitors go to your Facebook Page first to like you by only providing a link to your Page. Allow them to Like your Page right there from your blog using one of Facebook’s social plugins, such as the Like Box or Like Button. Making it a single step versus a two-step process will dramatically increase your conversion rate on this simple action.

We have used the Like Box plugin on our blog. As you can see below, it fits very nicely into a blog sidebar and gives some social proof by showing pictures of your friends who already Like your Facebook Page:

e Box plugin can be easily edited to fit the styles of your blog - here is how the same box looks on social media examiner.com:

Download the Like Box plugin for yourself! Facebook makes it super-easy by giving you a simple piece of code to copy and paste into the HTML of your blog.

6) to Increase Facebook Likes: Add a “Like” button to your Website’s Header

Having a Like Button in the top-right or left corner of your website is an easy way to drive new Likes over time. For a number of our clients, this has been a constant driver of new Likes every day. It won’t get you a ton of Likes all at once, but over time it will.

Add a Like Button to the header is an easy-to-see position with a simple call-to-action, such as “Like us to hear about Facebook-exclusive contests and deals. This allows you to keep it up in perpetuity and not have to worry about updating it every week or two. It will also keep from conflicting with any contests or coupons you promote on your website.

7) to Increase Facebook Likes: Exclusive Like-Gated Videos

Exclusive behind-the-scenes, interviews or live event videos are a great incentive to get new likes. Just like ebooks, coupons and contests, they can be like-gated and display in a Tab on your Facebook Page. A number of 3rd-party applications such as Pagemodo make this super easy to do.

But these can’t just be any videos. These need to be first-time, behind the scenes exclusives that you can’t find anywhere else. Here are a few examples that make for great exclusives:

    Videos from backstage at events
    Exclusive movie or gaming trailers or
    Deleted footage/scenes

Why does the content need to be so special?

People can watch videos anywhere, so these need to be special to get people to like your Facebook Page in order to view them. Even though it is a very small action, it is still a barrier for some people.

The Miami Heat have create an entire Fan Zone in the Tab on their Facebook Page. It includes videos, photos and more of interviews and behind-the-scenes looks at Heat players. Check it out below:



Conclusion

There are tons of stories of brands getting thousands of new likes overnight. But for the majority of businesses without a huge advertising budget or traditional distribution, increasing your Facebook likes takes time.

By using each of the hooks above, you can make sure to have a call-to-action for every traffic touchpoint (from your Facebook Page, to your website and blog) and every type of incentive (from exclusive content to free prizes).

फेसबुक likers बढाउने सरल तरिका !

So you started a Facebook page, created an amazing cover photo, an eye popping profile image and added some really great apps to your page with awesome thumbnails.. Now what? facebook-likes

For most they end here. They feel like they have built their page so people should come flocking to it right? WRONG.

As I pointed out in my blog about the common mistakes businesses make on social media you cannot pull a Kevin Costner and have the belief that “If you build it they will come.” Because they won’t…

What I want to discuss with you today is various ways to get more targeted Likes and interested fans to your Facebook page. Some of these are common sense, but for some these may be completely new concepts and methods.

Here’s the good news too… All of them are FREE methods except one of them!! Woohoo!!

Let’s get to the tips:

1) Post a status update: Pretty simple right? But you’d be surprised at how often I’m asked to give advice about someone’s page and I go to it and they haven’t posted any sort of updates in weeks. Or worse yet they have posted every 12 seconds on their page. What  you need to remember is that only a very small handful of people will ever come back to your page, if they came to it at all.

This means your only way to connect with them will be on their newsfeed through well crafted and planned status updates.

This is why I have used the Post Planner app for so long because I didn’t have to sit on Facebook all day waiting for the exact time to post a status update. I can sit down on Monday morning and plan out an entire week’s worth of posts and then just worry about engaging my fans from there.

My advice to you is plan at least 1 post per day and vary up the times each day. If you aren’t talking to your fans how can they talk back?

promote

2) Facebook Ads: 

This is the one that will cost you money, but is the one that will get you the most targeted fans. Facebook has made huge strives lately to make it easier for pages to place ads. Promoted Posts and Sponsored Stories are quickly becoming the norm when it comes to ads on Facebook. You can still run the traditional ads in the right hand column to garner Likes but people are beginning to notice those less. Whereas the Promoted Posts show up in the newsfeed and look more natural.

There is a selection you can make when you do a Promoted Post that lets you target friends of your fans that is a great way to get more Likes. Using this type of ad shows your fan’s friends that they are connected to a page, thus building trust and credibility instantly. But, you need to make sure you have targeted your post BEFORE you post it otherwise you could end up with likes, comments and shares from profiles all over the world and your post could start to look cluttered and spammy. We tend to always target all of our posts using the Post Planner app before they go live and direct them at English speaking countries only so that when we do run a Promoted Post we don’t run into this problem.

Jon Loomer also reported about a feature he has seen on his pages that let him immediately place an ad that has the complete intention of simply getting Likes. I haven’t seen that feature yet, but can’t wait for it to go live.

Want targeted fans that are likely to purchase from you? Run targeted ads…

3) Page Insights: Let me be real honest with you here… I hate numbers and I’m not an analytic numbers guy. You show me a bunch of charts, graphs and figures and I glaze over like a 7 year old in church. But, paying attention to your page’s insights is crucial to your success with your Facebook page.


Why? Well if you don’t know what has worked or hasn’t worked on your page you’re simply throwing darts blindfolded and hoping to hit the board. Facebook’s pages insights, just like ads, have come a long way the past year. You can now drill down by post to see exactly how that post performed and what that means to you. Did a simple text update do better than a photo? Or would a video be better? Did your post at 10am get as much engagement as the post at 8pm? All of that can be found in the Insights.

I would caution you however to not check them every day. To me that’s like weighing yourself every day and hoping to see results. Many times your weight fluctuates and you get discouraged. Same with Insights. For me 1-2 times per month is enough. You might do it once per week. Either way don’t stare at them all day every day hoping to see different results.

I know you’re asking “Scott, how does this get me more Likes?”. Good question. It gets you more Likes because it means you have a plan and have a clear idea of what is and isn’t succeeding on your page. Afterall if you have no engagement your page will not grow. End of story.

4) Post Videos to  your Page: What I should say here is “upload” videos to your page. Not just post links to YouTube videos. The reason is that Facebook embeds a little “Like” button on the upper left hand corner of  your video that shows to anyone that has NOT liked your page yet that might see it in their newsfeed! You can see an example of this in action below:

Notice the “Like X Factor USA” in the upper left hand corner? How this happens and works is you post a video to your page (side note make sure it’s your own video and not something you scraped), then let’s say one of your fans named Billy shares it to his Timeline. The video then shows up in the newsfeed of his friend Susan who hasn’t Liked your page yet. She pushes play on the video and while her mouse is hovered over the video this Like link shows up. She can Like your page straight from the video without ever going to your page!!! AND BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!!!

Does this feature work in growing a page? You bet. I first discovered this feature in Christmas of 2010 when I posted a video to the Thrive Church page that I was running. Within a matter of 2-3 weeks the page grew by 8000 fans and the video was viewed over 1.5 million times! You can read more about this on the OurChurch.com blog where I guest posted about it with more detailed information.

Do note that a few have reported to me that they are not seeing this Like button on videos any longer. I have noticed this recently on pages not in the US. So with all things created by Facebook they could at any second take this feature away.

The other reason you should upload videos to your page is that when it’s a good video people will share it. And when they share it that also means a link to your page is in the share. Someone could simply hover over “Post Planner” in the image below and Like the page without ever going to the page!!! I love this feature!

5) Link Personal Profile to your Page: One super simple way to get links back to your page and possibly get more likes is to make sure your personal profile is linked to your page in the Employment section of your About section, you can see what this looks like below:

6) Comment on Blogs: This tip ties into tip #5 in some ways because many blogs are now using the Facebook comment plugin for their blog. Which I love and highly recommend. As you can see below when you comment on a blog using the Facebook comments plugin your page shows up and there is a link back to it.

When a blog is using the Facebook Comments plugin you can also change to your page and comment as your page as seen below. This gives an even higher chance that someone will click on your image or the hyperlink to your page and come like it.

If the blog isn’t using the Facebook Comments plugin that’s fine as well. Depending what they are using you can always link to your Facebook page in your profile on their comment plugin. If people love your comment they might click on your profile to check out more information. Link it to your page and they can come give you a Like!

7) Like Box on your site/blog: This one is pretty straight forward and I would bet most of you are doing this. But I still find some sites lacking this feature. If you have a blog or a website you SHOULD put a Like Box on your site. I’m not a fan of simply putting a Facebook logo for people to click on and then possibly go Like your page. That requires too many actions.

As you can see in the image below someone could Like your page right from the box in the sidebar on the blog. There are many times I go to a blog and see this and click Like without ever visiting their Facebook page. You can get the embed code from Facebook Plugins. I don’t recommend embedding the box with the activity stream as it looks very unnatural on your site. Simply put in the box with a few rows of faces and you’re good.

 8) Use Facebook as  your Page: I want to put a disclaimer on this one before I say anything. *DO NOT USE THIS AND BE SPAMMY!!* Facebook added a feature about 2 years ago I think that allows you to surf Facebook and comment on other page’s posts as your page instead of as your personal profile.

When this first started people went overboard with it and were simply spamming other pages. That adds no value. How I have seen it used successfully is when a page comments on another page’s post and adds value to the conversation. No links, not sales pitch, just interaction.

Keep in mind as a page you can only comment on other pages, not on personal profiles. Just make sure that if you use this you add to the conversation, not just add noise.

9) Killer Content: Even if you do all of the previous tips the bottom line is you must put out killer content if you want to succeed on Facebook these days. You can’t just put out junk and expect people to share your posts. Sure some silly memes of cats will get shared, but do you want to be know as that? No.

I’d prefer a page say nothing than put out junk content. If you’re putting out good content and have targeted fans that are interested in your content they will engage with you and share it. Content is still king in 2013!

_sourse: http://www.postplanner.com

घर मा बसी बसी पैसा कमाउने केहि उत्तम तरिका !

In this page I want to share some information for beginners on how to make money blogging. For a very quick and broad visual intro – check out this Make Money Blogging MindMap which visualizes just SOME of the ways bloggers make money blogging.

Firstly – lets get our expectations right. Not everyone who tries to make money blogging becomes rich. In fact those who do well from blogging are in the minority. I’m sorry if this disappoints you – but I’m not here to hype this up or make any promises. It is possible to make money blogging – but it takes time and a lot of hard work – and it doesn’t happen for everyone!

For a picture of how realistic it is check out my post – Can You Really Make Money Blogging: 7 Things I know about Making Money from Blogging.

Secondly – let me start by sharing my own top Money Making Methods but below that point you to some great resources and teaching on how to increase your income from blogging.

How I Make Money BloggingWhat follows is a quick summary of my main income streams from blogging. Before you read it though – keep in mind that every blog is unique in how it can make money. Some of the following income streams will work on some blogs a lot better than others – the key is to experiment with as many as possible and see what works best for you.

The following income streams (from a number of blogs) have helped me to earn a six figure income each year for the last 5 years from blogging. I’ve ranked them from highest to lowest.

I hope you find it useful to see the mix and variety of ways that I earn a living from blogging.

1. AdSense

AdsenseDespite not using it here at ProBlogger any more (here’s why) I continue to use AdSense with amazing effect on my other blogs. I have them all set to show image and text based ads and find that 250×300 pixel ads work best (usually with a blended design). I don’t have much luck with their ‘referrals’ program but their normal ads work a treat and continue to be the biggest earner for me.
2. Affiliate Programs

miscellaneous affiliate programsI run a variety of affiliate programs on my blogs – most of which bring in smaller amounts of money that don’t really justify a category of their own (but which certainly add up).

These include recommending quality products like these here on ProBlogger: Thesis WordPress theme, Yaro’s Blog Mastermind Coaching Program and How to Launch the F*** out of your E-Book (and others) as well as some great products on my photography blog including 123 of Digital Imaging, David DuChemin’s amazing Photography E-Books and Mitchell Kanashkevich’s great ebooks.

The great thing about many of these programs is that they are of such high quality that they sell themselves and I am being emailed from readers who sign up to them thanking me for the recommendation!
3. E-Book Sales

make-money-blogging-ebooks.jpgLast time I did a wrap up of how I make money blogging this category did not exist for me – I didn’t really have any of my own products to sell at all. However in the last year or so I’ve released 3 E-books – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, The Essential Guide to Portrait Photography and Photo Nuts and Bolts: Know Your Camera and Take Better Photos. While these products all only sell for under $20 they certainly add up and some months this has been my biggest category of income. The reason they were only ranking at #3 in the last month was that I didn’t do a product launch (I wrote about one launch which brought in $72,000 in a week here). This is an income stream I see growing as I add more E-books to my range (expect 3 in the coming few months).
4. Continuity Programs

make-money-blogging-continuity.jpgThis is another newer category for me but one that continues to grow.

A continuity program is a site where you earn a recurring income from people who subscribe to a service you offer.

For me this includes two sites – ProBlogger.com and Third Tribe Marketing. Both programs are membership sites and generate monthly income from the thousands of members that they have as a part of them.
5. Private Ad Sales/Sponsorships

private-ad-salesPrivate ad sales directly to advertisers have fallen for me in the last year (they previously ranked #3 on this list). This is partly due to a change in my own focus but also partly due to the economy as it is. I should note that this area does vary a little from month to month depending upon the campaigns we’re asked to run – we’ve had a couple of months where it actually ranked #2 in the last year.

This includes ad sales of the 125 x 125 ads here at ProBlogger as well as a campaign or two at Digital Photography School.
6. Chitika

ChitikaChitka continues to be a great performer for me on my blogs. They traditionally have worked best on product related blogs although their Premium ad units now convert well on a larger range of blogs.

While I’ve focused a little less on Chitika in the last 6 months (mainly as I’ve released my own products and moved a little away from advertising) they do continue to perform well where I use them and over the time I’ve been using Chitika they’ve now earned me over a quarter of a million dollars – as a result I can’t recommend them enough!
7. Amazon Associates

Amazon’s affiliate program has been one of my big movers in the last 12 months. I used to make a few odd dollars from it – however in recent times it has become a significant earner for me (in fact it’s now earned me over $100,000 since I started using it). Christmas time (and the lead up to it) is a particularly good time for Amazon – last December it would have ranked #2 on this list.

8. ProBlogger Job Boards

make-money-blogging-job-board The job boards here at ProBlogger continue to grow each month in the number of advertisements that are being bought. This enabled me to invest most of the money that they’d earned a while back into getting a new back end for the boards and to redesign them. These job boards now bring in over $1000 a month in revenue which is pretty nice considering that they are so low maintenance to run. They also offer a service to readers and add value to the overall blog.

The only problem that I face with the job boards is that there are so many bloggers looking for work that the demand for jobs far exceeds the supply. On the good side of things is that advertisers are reporting getting amazing quality of applications.

9. Speaking Fees

I get asked to do a lot of speaking and increasingly they are paid opportunities. I’m not able to do as many as I would like (mainly because I live in Australia and most of what I’m asked to do is overseas and I only travel 2-3 times a year) – however in April I did a couple of events and the income was enough to include in this list.
Other Income

In addition to all of the above there are many smaller incomes. Many of these are from smaller advertising programs that I test but none are big enough to really rate a mention here.

The other income stream that there was no actual money from in April was book royalties from the ProBlogger Book. These are only paid every 6 or so months (not in April). It’s probably also worth mentioning that authors don’t tend to make a whole lot of money on book royalties – you don’t write books to get rich (unless you sell a lot of them).

Protecting Your Computer from Unwelcome Intruders.

Computer Viruses:
Protecting Your Computer from Unwelcome Intruders.

When you’re online, you expose your vulnerability to malicious virus that have been growing in virulence and ferocity over the last few years. These program codes have gone beyond mere annoyances with the worst kinds disabling your PC, but they have become portals for remotely perpetuating more sinister activity that can clandestinely hack into sites, mount denial of services or steal confidential and personal data for fraudulent financial gain at your expense.

Are these virus serious enough to cause losses? Among home PC users, you may think having to reinstall your OS after a virus or malware has brought it down is not really expensive as you lose just a day or two to reinstall your programs and rebuilding files, consider that in a business, you could actually lose millions. Just ask ChoicePoint when it took a $6 million charge in 2005 after cyber criminals hacked into their systems and stole sensitive data from thousands of customers. Or the credit card processor CardSystems Solutions which may yet go out of business from major security breach at the company's Tucson, Arizona, operations center. In a recent consumer survey among security breach victims, people don't take lightly the loss of their data. More than 60% of respondents indicated their plans to terminate business relationships with a company that lost the data they entrusted to them.

In 2004, rootkits were a relatively obscure form of Trojans meant to infect Unix computers. But by 2005, rootkits have become a mainstream security threat after Sony BMG Music Entertainment shipped a few million CDs that contained a rootkit among its copy protection scheme. Within a few months, Sony recalled the CDs, but it was too late, According to security experts, rootkits attacking Windows PC were here to stay.

The 2011 Norton Cybercrime Report reveals that there were 431 million global cybercrime victims who lost $388 billion in real money losses and computer time. This is a lot more compared to the estimated $288 billion in revenues from the black markets for cocaine, heroin and illegal drug trades combined. For sure, not all of these losses were incurred due to Trojans, worms, viruses, rootkits and malware. But when you consider that roughly 4.3% of cybercrimes involve damages to PC resulting from online downloads of infected content over the internet, you are looking at a computed $17 billion in annual losses due to malware and virus infection.

What can I do to protect myself from computer viruses and Trojans?

These days, practically everyone's online, downloading and exchanging files, and developers are in such a hurry to get their Web sites up or their files out that checking for a nasty bug is more of a courtesy than a requirement. If you're not careful, your computer can end up with a nasty virus that makes your files act oddly, crashes your computer, pops up bizarre messages, or worst of all, destroys your operating system.

A computer virus is the most subtle of computer problems. It usually loads itself into your computer system when you run a program to which it has attached itself. From the computer system, it'll then reproduce itself, much like a biological virus would, by attaching copies of itself to other programs on your hard drive. What it does then depends on the malevolence of its creator. Some viruses are nothing more than a practical joke. They may bring up a message like "Merry Xmas" or melt your display. Most of them though, either start destroying your system or your files immediately or on a date specified by their creators—like the much-publicized Michelangelo virus, which erases important pieces of your system on March 6. "Trojan horse" programs are similar to viruses in their effect on your system, but they can't reproduce themselves. They're usually a program disguised as something you might want to download onto your computer—for instance, a rogue, modified version of PKWare's PKZIP utility. But when you run the new program you just found, it can do anything from popping up a message to erasing your hard disk, as the rogue PKZIP utility really did.

In either case, you have to actually launch the infected program or the trojan horse for it to infiltrate your system. Though hoax e-mails, like the one about the "Good Times" virus try to make you believe otherwise, neither a virus nor a trojan horse program can do anything if you simply leave the malevolent file sitting on your hard drive.

Finding out that you copied a trojan horse onto your computer is remarkably easy. You launch the program, and the next thing you know, something completely unexpected happens—maybe your system is gone or your computer is laughing maniacally at you. But unless you notice your computer acting oddly before the virus has done its worst damage, you may very well not know you have it until it's too late.

Protect Yourself

There are a few basic rules that computer users should follow to short-circuit viruses. The best known bit of advice is this: Never open any attachment unless you know who it's from and why they are sending it. Refusing to open unsolicited e-mail of any kind is the only sure-fire way to sidestep all forms of trouble.

Anti-virus software is crucial to preventing virus attacks, but this strategy only works if users update their software.Unfortunately, 'keeping it current' means updating it weekly, at least but most products today allow one to automate this process, but file downloads can be large and slow.

Factors to consider when buying an anti-virus package include cost, quality of tech support, how frequently the package self-updates and the platforms supported by the program.

Common sense is another good weapon in the fight against viruses. Be wary of opening any email attachments, even from your firends , especially if it has been forwarded to them.Set up your anti-virus product so that it automatically scans incoming e-mail and avoiding e-mail software that allows automatic launching of attachments.

If all of this sounds like a lot of work, it is. There is always a tradeoff between ease of use and security but the extra time you spend updating your anti-virus software now will save you hours of time and buckets of frustration later.If you don't keep it updated, you might was well be completely unprotected.

Prevention

Like sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), computer viruses existed prior to the popularity of the Internet, but as with the sexual revolution of the '70s, viruses have flourished with the widespread sharing of information. And, much like the efforts to control STDs, controlling computer viruses is to be done through education and practicing safe hex (a play on words which means to perform certain measures to protect your computer).

1. Be sure do a full back up of your system on a regular basis. The best way to clean up an infected file is to replace it with an original non-infected file. Not to mention the grief a current back up will save if a virus takes your system completely down. It's also a good idea to keep more than one set of backup in case the current one is infected before the virus is detected.

2. Always use an anti-virus software program, one with both an on-demand and an on-access scanner. You'll want to look for one that has a fairly complete database of viruses and that is updateable. New viruses are produced daily, so it's important to have software that can detect the latest threat.

Be sure to read the manual and follow the directions of the software program to ensure it's protecting you properly. Also, consider buying and using two different brands to be doubly protected. See our review of anti-virus programs.

3. Update the virus database in your anti-virus program regularly (each month or by the direction of the manufacturer).

4. On a PC, change the CMOS setting of your boot up process from booting first on the A drive (floppy) and then on the C drive (hard drive) to just booting on the C drive. This will not only speed up your boot up process but also completely eliminate the risk of infecting your hard drive with an infected floppy disk.

If you should need to boot from a floppy you can easily change the settings back and reboot from the A drive. Please note: an infected non-bootable floppy disk can just as easily infect your hard drive as would an infected bootable one.

5. Don't allow your web browser to automatically run programs, such as MS Word or other programs through its e-mail program. Configure your browser to launch WordPad or Notepad instead. One of the biggest and growing threats is the macro virus, which is spread through data processing and spread sheet programs

6. Configure your web browsers to disable ActiveX, Java, and Javascript. You'll lose some of the fun the Web's been known for, but you'll save your computer from contracting a virus and speed up your connection.

7. Know that the only way a virus spreads is either by launching an infected file or by booting an infected disk. You can not get a virus by simply being online or by reading e-mail. You have to download and launch an infected file before it will spread. Therefore, do not launch any unsolicited executable files sent via e-mail.

8. Using an updated anti-virus program, scan all new software for viruses before installing them on your hard drive. Even shrink-wrapped software from major publishers has been known to contain viruses.

9. Be aware of hoaxes. To increase mass hysteria, there have been many stories conjured up and spread by unknowledgeable users. For a list of known hoaxes check out the following site: http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/threatexplorer/risks/hoaxes.jsp

Viruses are not the only type of programs that are written solely to cripple computer systems or to use a computer in an unauthorized way. Other malicious programs are Logic Bombs, Trojan Horses, and Worms.

Help on the Web

The Virus Bulletin (www.virusbtn.com) offers a list of viruses that are floating through the computer world at present. The site also offers the opportunity to report viruses, should you be unfortunate enough to encounter a new one firsthand.

If your computer is not on a network, and you never, ever install new programs or download files from the Internet or open email enclosures, you don't have to worry about viruses. But that's like living in a sealed bubble. Most of us have to go out into public every day, where we're subject to the germs carried by others (though natural immunities will usually protect us from most of them.) Likewise, most people also have to update their software and are interested in communication and information from others. Luckily, there are some preventions and cures for even the nastiest of viruses.