Q: My antivirus program is about to expire, so do I renew it or buy new antivirus software?

Data Doctors: Q. I have a pop-up telling me that I am infected and to buy this software, or that I need to run a scan when my current PC-Cillin is running a scan. What is this worm called, and can you tell me how to remove it? - Jim

Ken Colburn:  The need for good protection software against the thousands of malicious software attacks is critical, especially since the cleverness of the attacks is on the rise.

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp., a regular target for software attacks and viruses, is hoping to strike back with a weapon of its own.

Q. I have Norton Internet security, yet my computer has been infected with the Antivirus 2009 program. How can this happen, and how do I get rid of it? - Glenn

 Data Doctors: The sad fact of today's Internet life is that none of the anti-virus programs out there will ever protect you from 100 percent of the threats because the bad guys have the upper hand.

The sad fact of today’s Internet life is that none of the anti-virus programs will ever protect you from 100 percent of the threats because the bad guys have the upper hand.

Q. What is your opinion of the best anti-virus program to use? — Jessica

Ever hear the line, "The more I fix it, the broker it gets"?

SAN FRANCISCO - Google is distributing a free software startup kit designed to make computing safer and easier — a generous gesture driven by the company’s desire to steer technology offline as well as online.

WASHINGTON - Stung by continuing criticism, the world's second-largest music label, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, promised Friday to temporarily suspend making music CDs with antipiracy technology that can leave computers vulnerable to hackers.

NEW YORK - AOL is getting a software makeover, its first since deciding to make more of its services available for free in the chase for online advertising dollars.

Should I install a security suite on my Mac? - Susan

Q: If I installed anti-virus and antispyware software, have kept Windows updated and have a firewall, why am I still getting infections? — William

NEW YORK - Worldwide piracy of business software products like Microsoft Office declined slightly in 2002 because of better education and more aggressive tactics in stopping Internet piracy, software industry officials say.

January 6, 2005

Q: One of my nerdy friends told me that I should install a program called ThreatFire because it can do things that my anti-virus program can’t do.

NEW YORK - If you have computer files you'd rather not lose, now is a good time to make sure your anti-virus software is up to date. A worm set to activate Friday will corrupt documents using the most common file types, including ".doc," ".pdf," and ".zip."

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates is expected to give his perspective Tuesday on computer security and provide an update on the software giant's efforts to make computing more "trustworthy."

February 15, 2005

Q: This last week I received numerous e-mails with the Sober virus attachment and didn’t open any of the attachments. But a couple of them were addressed from my employer. How do they get this info? — Penny

March 14, 2005

Q: Which utility suite is the best one to use for protecting my computer? — Shane

NEW YORK - A computer virus that traversed the globe last week struck again in a slightly mutated form over the weekend and continued to spread aggressively through e-mail systems worldwide Monday.