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For most users, the idea of your computer becoming infected with a malicious program invites the prospect of falling into the chasm of non-comprehension that lies at the edge of the our understanding of how computers actually work.

Viruses, worms, trojans, spyware and some adware are all forms of what can be more broadly termed “malware”. The different names categorise the different mechanisms they employ to infect your computer.

Malware may damage your operating system, affect your programs, delete files or, in an extreme case, delete your entire hard disk.

Other examples are more benign, merely replicating and announcing themselves with text, video or audio messages. However, even the apparently harmless ones take up computer resources and often result in erratic, slow behaviour and frequent system crashes.

Malware broadly exists because some individuals have learned more about how their computer works than most of us, and they are determined to let the rest of us know it!

The first examples of malware were identified on closed computer systems in the 1970s. The growth of modem dial-up and bulletin boards in the 1980s allowed malware to spread more widely.

The advent over the past decade or so of the internet and always-on broadband have fuelled the ability of malware to spread to the extent that it is now a fact of everyday computer life.

You must install antivirus software on all your workstations. There are free versions available of some antivirus software, but the fine print of the licence often excludes anything other than personal use.

I would recommend choosing a well known software that updates virus definitions constantly. And don’t fall into the trap of thinking that if you have an Apple computer, you are immune. OSX malware is rare, but does exist — and is increasing. If you use Microsoft Office applications, your Apple computer can be infected by and become a carrier for macro viruses such as those that infect Word files.

If you have both Windows and Apple computers in your office, Sophos antivirus is a good choice for protection on both platforms. It has the ability to update virus definitions on an hourly or even more frequent basis (www.sophos.co.uk).

Regularly updated antivirus software offers good protection, but new viruses are constantly coming to light, and even the best antivirus software providers need time to respond to new threats.

It therefore makes sense to indulge in the computer equivalent of personal hygiene — so optimise your machine’s health by keeping the operating system up to date.

When opening emails, always try to verify that the source of any attachment is genuine. If in doubt, check with the sender.

Be particularly cautious about an executable file. You could consider setting your office mail server to remove executable file attachments from all emails. These files typically end with “.exe”, but for a full list of executable file types, see http://www.fileinfo.net/filetypes/executable.

When downloading files from the internet, be similarly cautious. A good policy is to set your web and email applications to show the file name and require users to verify every request to open a file rather than just running operations in the background. The Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/) are set to do this by default.

If your computer does become infected, your antivirus software may be able to do some disinfection itself, or you may be able to use a recommended tool to remove it. With some malware this works fine, but in our experience, much of the time a full system rebuild will be required.

To make sure that this isn’t too painful, make sure that data on your workstation is regularly backed up, and that you have all your application install disks and serial numbers to hand.

Good luck and keep healthy!