Viruses and spyware have been wreaking havoc recently, and we have seen a sharp increase in problems on clients' computers caused by these threats.

Viruses and spyware do not attack or affect Standard Conveyancer™ directly, but they can have a debilitating effect on your computer's operating system. Often, many of the functions of the computer and your software will continue to work, but you may notice slowness or strange behavior in certain programs. For Standard Conveyancer™ users, damage caused by viruses or spyware can affect the document merges in Microsoft Word.

If you call for technical support and we suspect that your system has been compromised by a virus or spyware, the best course of action is for us to go over the situation with your hardware consultant. Standard Solutions has always recommended that you have an experienced professional available for your computer networking and hardware needs, and this is more important now than ever before. It is imperative that you protect your valuable computers and data with anti-virus and spyware detection programs.

If your firm's systems are not currently being serviced by such a qualified technician, please give a call to discuss your options. Hardware and network services are not covered by your Standard Conveyancer™ Support and Maintenance Program. However, we want to do our best to help you and may be able to arrange to provide certain services on a billable basis.

For more information on the risks associated with computer viruses and spyware and available solutions, you may also want to check out the following resources:

http://www.microsoft.com/security

http://us.mcafee.com

http://www.symantec.com/index.htm

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/
solutions/en/security_solutions

http://www.spysweeper.com