Anytime you leave your Toronto loft, you're exposed to all manner of bacteria and viruses, but by washing your hands regularly and avoiding people who are obviously ill, we can avoid contracting anything too serious. This same logic applies to the internet. There are contaminants on the internet - viruses, spyware, worms, and the like - which can damage your computer if you pick one up during your travels. Therefore it's important to always have virus protection when you use the internet.

Virus protection comes in the form of programs which regularly scan your computer, eliminate anything known to be a virus, and quarantine anything suspected of being a virus. They work by accessing a massive databank of identified viruses that have previously attacked the servers for the Sutton members program and other people's computers and comparing the files on your computer to these known pieces of malicious code. Using virus software effectively places a mask on your computer that filters out contaminants.

So where do these viruses come from? Do they grow in the dark, moist corners of the internet like real bacteria collecting on the underside of your old House Plans? No. Computer viruses are created by people who want to cause harm and havoc and released onto the internet for the express purpose of causing trouble for other people. Because these virus creators, called hackers, are always making new viruses, your virus software needs to come with a subscription for automatic updates as new viruses are identified. Subscriptions are usually good for one year, after which the program will stop updating itself.

There are many different companies that make virus software. The more people who use your computer, the better protected you should be, so the public computer at a Toronto Bed & Breakfast should have a big name virus software package. The top names in virus detection include McAffee, Norton, Bitdefender, Kapersky, Trend Micro, Panda, and AVG. If you wait for a sale at the electronics store, you can get an antivirus package complete with firewall and automatic backup for around $30, which will protect three home computers.

Viruses are more of a problem with PC computers than with Macintosh models. Many people erroneously believe their Macs are immune to viruses, but this is not the case. It's just that there aren't as many Mac-designed viruses. But as Macs become more popular, that's changing. Macs can be hacked and pick up viruses just like PCs, especially through web-based email, so if you don't want your project on Vincent Van Gogh to disappear into the ether or your friends to be bombarded by robot-generated emails, you should get a Mac-compatible antivirus package. Norton, McAffee, and ESET make such products.