An Investigation by IT Specialist Avira came back with startling results, it revealed that only one third of those surveyed had any type of virus protection installed in 1999.

12 percent (653 users) had absolutely no protection on their computer at the time. Because in 1999 malware did not aim to remain undetected for long periods, but instead laid computers low in a matter of minutes, attacks didn’t go unnoticed for long. According to the survey, 11 percent (602 users) learned from such an attack and get protection after the first incident, maintaining it ever since

22 percent (1228 users) stated that they had simple spy ware removers installed but no real virus protection software. 5,543 International web surfers, from every place across the globe participated in the survey. One third simply did not own a computer. Another third had no virus protection at all installed. The last third had virus protection installed and would not allow there computer on the Internet with out it. If you cut out the third that simply did not even own a computer, the results are shocking. Fifty percent of computer owners had no virus protection which would enable the intense spread of any kind of computer virus.

Although it is still very important to have the best anti virus software possible there are laws to combat computer crime are not new. For many years now laws have constantly been put into place to prosecute computer virus writers. Offenders of these laws are usually not allowed on or near a computer some are given a prison sentence and or made to pay fines for damages to virtual or physical property(Depends on Severity of the case).

The 1994 Computer Abuse Act tries to deal differently with those who intentionally write and launch viral attacks and those who do it to intending to cause some form of physical damage or data loss Which is a good reason to have the best anti virus software you can find. The act defines two levels of prosecution for those who create viruses. For those who intentionally cause damage by releasing a virus, the punishment can amount to ten years in a federal prison plus a fine. For those who release a virus with only reckless disregard to the damage it will cause, the maximum punishment stops at a fine and a year in prison, but the offender will need to prove they did not mean to intentionally cause damage. Special considerations are made for those under 18 years of age.

Dr. Joseph Popp, an American that was apprehended and charged by the FBI at the end of 1989 had sent free computer diskettes to 20,000 plus people in London and around the world. The disks he sent out contained a program which assessed the user's risk of contracting the AIDS/HIV virus, but actually introduced a Trojan horse to the users computer. The individuals that received the disk were warned that their computer would stop functioning unless they paid the fee of 225 euros to a bank account in panama. Dr. Popp was found mentally unfit to stand trial. Just another reason for you to find the best anti virus software you can.

CIH, also known as Chernobyl or Spacefiller is a microsoft windows computer virus written by Chen Ing Hau of Taiwan. Its considered to be one of the most dangerous harmful widely circulated viruses ever created. When your computer becomes infected the virus will overwrite critical information and in some cases will corrupt the system BIOS. The Virus was released on April 26,1999.

These are Some of the worst viruses in history, You never know when the next one can strike so you should have best anti virus software possible.

Brain, 1986-was the First REAL virus ever discovered. It was discovered in 1986, although it didn't really hurt your computer, it did launch the malware industry and gave really bad ideas to thousands of virus creators over the period of twenty or so years.

Michelangelo, 1991-was probably the worst MS-DOS virus ever created, when your computer became infected it attacked the boot sector of your hard drive and any floppy drive inserted into the computer, this caused the virus to spread very rapidly. After spreading silently to as many computers as it could for months the virus activated on March 6, and immediately started destroying data on tens of thousands of Computers.

Melissa, 1999-Although it was technically a worm, Melissa(named after a stripper) Collapsed whole entire email systems by making computers send mountains of email messages to each other. The Creator was caught and sentenced to 20 months in prison.

ILOVEYOU, 2000-This was the first virus to trick users into opening a file, which in this case turned out to be a fake love letter sent to the recipient. The email contained a VBS script that sent mountains of junk mail and deleted thousands of files. The results were devastating, the government estimates that 10 percent of all computers globally were affected which cost $5.5 Billion. It is possibly the worst worm of all time.

Code Red, 2001- was a virus that targeted web servers instead of user computers, it defaced websites and launched denial-of-service attacks on a host of IP addresses, including those that belonged to the White House.

Nimda, 2001- was built on code reds attack system of searching out and finding avenues on machines such as email, websites, network connections, and others. Nimda infected user machines as well as web servers. Its was so effective at spreading its self from computer to computer that 22 minutes after it was released, it became the Internets most widespread virus of its time.

Slammer, 2003- was another one that spread very rapidly, infecting 75,000 systems in just 10 minutes which slowed the Internet down to a mere crawl and resulting in thousands of websites completely shutting down.

My Doom, 2004-was regarded as the fastest spreading email virus ever created, it infected computers and made them send even more junk mail. Mydoom was used to attack the website of SCO Group, which was a unpopular company suing other company's over code that was used in Linux distributions.

Storm, 2007-was the most recent virus that caused considerable damage, it spread by email spam with a fake attachment and in the end infected up to 10 million computers. It forced them to join its Zombie botnet.

The Internet was allot more dangerous back when anti-virus software wasn't very widely used, which makes it so much more important for every one today to have the best anti virus software possible, virus attacks caused millions of dollars in damages overnight. viruses today can still be a pain, but for the average user, cleanup is considerably easier than it was just a few years ago, when the only solution in many cases was reformatting your hard drive and starting from scratch (and even that didn't fix every thing sometimes).

There are some very cheap tricks that Will help protect your computer from harmful viruses, some don't even cost you a dime. These in my opinion are some of the best anti virus software that I have found.

Avira Antivirus- Is perhaps the best anti virus software i have found for free. You can visit the web site at http://www.free-av.com/and download a free version of this anti-virus software. Well I know what your thinking, well its free so it cant be that good or any good at all. I installed this software (The FREE Version) on my Dads computer( He Always has Bad Virus Problems) and his computer has been absolutely fine for about three 4 months now. If your going to go with a free software, this is the one I recommend, after all it is better then nothing at all.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.5- Its a free download for those of you that don't have any virus protection at all although its not the best it still gets the job done. I have some personal experience with it, its ok and has flaws but offers some protection against viruses.You can download it an try it out at http://free.avg.com/ww-en/homepage

Norton Anti-Virus- Probably the most used and most popular anti virus software on the market but it does come with a hefty price tag. Its very highly recommended an i did use it for a number of years. the last version i used was Norton Anti-Virus 2008 and i was more then satisfied with it, i just decided to try some thing else because it uses allot of system resources. You can find more information at http://www.symantec.com/index.jsp

McAfee Anti-virus- Although I have never used it, it does come very highly recommended. Its the runner up to Norton, its another very popular software so that has to tell you something, It Works. Ive heard from friends that its just as good as Norton, but it doesn't take up as much system resources so that's a good thing. You can find more information at http://www.mcafee.com/us/

One of the best, most extensive, Anti-Virus software on the market. The company that makes and produces this soft ware is only 4 years old so its not well known or very popular. I expect this Software to rise in the ranks as new of its abilities spreads by word of mouth from friend to friend. The web site offers free trials of The Shield Deluxe, Win Shredder, Security Shield, Stop-Zilla!, and My Registry Cleaner. Offers full versions of The Shield Pro, The Shield Firewall, and Spam Shield. Visit The Link to download a free trial or for more information.