You may already have had a bad experience with a computer viruses. If this is true then you may have been due to opening an email from some one you didn't know, or from downloading a ton of different files off the internet. Either way, if you want to ensure this doesn't happen again, the you should read this article to guard yourself against the annoying computer bugs.

I have put together 10 tips that you can follow in order to avoid being infected by a nasty virus that could potentially turn your PC into a disaster zone.

1. Purchase and install a well respected antivirus software program and be sure to set it up so that it automatically runs when the computer starts up.

2. Ensure that the antivirus software is kept up to date. Most software has a feature that warns you when it is going to expire.

3. Set your antivirus program to scan for potential viruses each time you open a word-processing document like the ones that get sent through email. Viruses found in word-processing documents are called Macro Viruses.

4. You should only download software from the internet if it is really necessary. There maybe some great programs available online, but there are also many bad viruses too.

5. There are many ways to swap data between two different computers. I don't recommend you do this unless it is unavoidable, and even then you must scan the storage device you are transferring from for viruses.

6. When transferring data using a floppy disc, the disc must be formatted first.

7. Only use trusted vendors when you are buying new software for your computer.

One of the most common ways of catching a virus is to install pirate software. This is illegal and should never be done.

9. You must scan all programs you download of the web, BEFORE you open and install them on your computer.

10. Back up your files on regular basis so that if you do get infected, you can delete the corrupted files and replace them with clean ones that were saved earlier.

I can't guarantee, if you follow the step that I advise, that you won't get a computer virus, but I can promise you that it will be a less likely occurrence by far.

Roberto Beiro is a new author on the web. You can find more computer advice from him at his website Old boy articles. There are also 100's of articles on other subjects like finance advice, and travel advice