Many articles tell you how to prevent viruses by adding this software or that piece of gear, etc., but still, people get viruses and other silly junk that renders your machine almost useless.

Well, I'm not taking that approach. I'm going to tell you exactly HOW TO get viruses and otherwise debilitate your machine. These are sure fire ways and practices to ensure your machine is functionally worthless. And when you recognize any of these practices in your situation, hopefully you will take steps to stop doing that.

1. Go to porn websites.

These sites will open all kinds of windows and pop-ups and even trick you into downloading applications. These applications sometimes transmit data, on a regular basis, to other websites. This in turn, robs you of computing cycles, resulting in slower performance, not to mention the ongoing security risks

2. Try to go to Warez and Crack websites.

You will most definitely get a virus, no question about it. On a related note, if you need a program, go buy it.

3. Use music sharing software.

If you are not a technical person and you don't install and configure these things properly, it's like leaving the doors of your house wide open in the worst part of town. Big time security risk.

4. Download "free" screensavers, toolbars, browser helpers, unknown "cleaners" and that type of thing - especially software offered from pop-up ads.

Remember, if it costs nothing, it's usually worth nothing. Even toolbars bundled from legitimate sources like the Google toolbar will rob you of computing cycles. I had one customer that had 3 separate toolbars running in Internet Explorer. His system was massively slow, and the viewing area for web pages was like only 3 inches high. Silly huh?

5. Put on the Webshots screen saver or any other screen saver that updates daily.

The update daily part runs 24-7 so it's robbing you of resources.

6. Run as many things in the background as possible; even for software you use only once in a while.

Let's face it, every company that writes software thinks its software is the most important piece of software you're running. So after a while, you have over a dozen things in your lower right hand system tray all fighting over your resources. For goodness sake, turn that sh*t off! Stuff like Microsoft Messenger, Real Update, AOL Instant Messenger, etc.. Any PC that's Pentium 3 or more, you don't need that stuff, the startup time for those programs is negligible at those processor levels.

Go into each of the preferences for each or those programs and remove it from startup and/or remove it from the tray icon. It's pointless and not necessary. Find a program that you can see what's running on your startup groups and remove the stuff that's not essential. This is a big area of resource savings, and there's lots written about it all over the net.

7. Don't delete drivers from printers you threw away 5 years ago.

If you don't use the printer, remove the driver, the software toolbox and whatever else is associated with it. It's running in the background and slowing things up. Many printers have toolbox programs that run and wait for print jobs or monitor the condition of your printer, and guess what? It's using resources. Get rid of them. Even for printers you have, it's only necessary to run the basic driver without installing tons of other crap.

8. Download animated cursors.

These silly things, besides being annoying to others, usually come bundled with push marketing software that makes pop-up ads appear. Steer clear!

9. Use the automatic viewer pane in your email program.

If you use programs like Microsoft Outlook that have a viewer pane, and you keep it open, script files can execute and install unwanted software as new email comes in. The first step to overcoming this problem is to go into your email clients preferences and turn off the viewer pane. In a more general sense, a good way to prevent viruses is to use a good anti-virus software program coupled with an internet service provider that actively and aggressively filters your mail for security threats. I use a company in Philadelphia called Quonix. There are others that do it too, do your homework.

10. Blindly click on things without reading them.

Even Java updates install toolbars you may not want. Always choose "manual" or "custom" install, and carefully read each screen. Uncheck things that aren't necessary. Even certain windows updates aren't necessary (IE7?).

So that's the Big 10. Do any and all of those things and you will get a virus. Oh, and one other thing I forgot.. Let a little kid onto your machine without supervision. They will usually practice at least 5 or more of the above items.

Good luck!

Jeff "Sarcazmo" Gross