A pay-by-use anti-virus programme

PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY

There's nothing worse than having a virus in your computer ruin all your hard work and destroy valuable information.

But there are people who enjoy bugging your machine and one has to live with it because life without the Internet has become unthinkable.

Even if you have installed some anti-virus software and even these are continuously upgraded through your Internet connection, it may not always be the latest and so may not prevent bugs from entering your system.

So, make sure that your PC has the latest anti-virus software installed.

Normally, you would have to pick up a package from your friendly-neighbourhood software dealer, much like you would buy a Windows package.

But if you're a VSNL (Tata Indicom) broadband subscriber, there's another way out. You can simply download it from the Tata Indicom broadband site.

Or ask for it on a CD and it will be sent to you. Once you install the software, run it immediately so that all existing viruses and Trojans are deleted.

Leave the software activated at all times so that in future any virus entering the system is isolated and removed. VSNL has entered into a deal with Trend Micro, one of the bigger anti-virus software makers in the world.

You can try it out for a month "" free of cost "" and then decide whether you want to use it. It would certainly work out much cheaper than if you bought a package from elsewhere. An annual subscription would cost you just Rs 250 "" if you choose to pay every month it would be Rs 25.

So , if you simply want to pay for as much as you use that's possible.On the other hand a package in the market could set you back by as much as Rs 2,500.

So you're coughing up just a tenth of that.The amount would get added to your broadband bill, so that's time saved. Says Shashi Kalathil, COO , (retail business),VSNL, "Continuous updates of the Trend Micro package would automatically happen since the software loaded on your computer will search for updates through the broadband connection."

For those of you who run small businesses or companies too, services on demand and pay per use schemes are what you should be looking for. Instead of paying lump sum amounts upfront, it is cheaper to simply access any service as and when you need to.

Even if you pay the charge per machine, it would still be cost-effective. Viruses tend to slow down the machine so be alert. Since there can at any time be a brand new bug in the system , any software would take time to detect it. So all you can do is keep your fingers crossed. But make sure you install some protection against bugs.