Unless you're completely braindead, the chances are that you have an antivirus solution installed on your home computer. But have you got one running on your phone? Probably not. Yet, these days all phones are Internet and network-enabled, and virus writers are starting to exploit this by creating nasties to screw up your phone. There are plenty of effective tools for blocking these kind of attacks though, so there's no excuse for not protecting yourself. Here are some of the best:

• Airscanner Mobile Antivirus (Windows Mobile) - Virus scanner for total security
• Antivirus BullGuard (Windows Mobile) - Protect all your communication methods
• Kaspersky Anti-Virus Mobile (Symbian) - The security giant's mobile solution
• F-Secure Mobile Antivirus (WM/Symbian) - Wireless antivirus system
• Mobile Disinfector (Symbian) - Guard yourself from worms, viruses and malware

Windows: Are you planning to upgrade to Windows 7 from Windows XP? Microsoft has developed a special tool to make this process much easier. It's called Windows 7 Easy Transfer for Windows XP and lets you copy all your documents, music, photos, user settings, bookmarks and more to a new computer with Windows 7. Oh, and there's also a version for Vista!

Mac: If you think Macs don't need a virus checker then think again. Although the risk of virus attack is very small compared to Windows, Mac viruses are on the increase and this will continue as Macs become more popular. Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac offers quick and thorough scanning options as well as real-time scanning of files download from the internet, via email, etc.

Phones: Hangman Classic Free is an iPhone version of the classic game, in which you need to figure out what a word is by guessing letters. Simply tap a letter on the screen and if it's in the word it will be displayed, if it's not then another body part will be drawn onto the hanging stickman. Guess the word before the drawing is complete and you win, or else you die. It's that simple.

Following the trend of online applications, there is a growing number of online anti-virus apps that can analyze and detect viruses on your system without requiring you to have an anti-virus tool installed on the computer. Of course, this is no replacement for the traditional desktop security software. First, these online anti-virus tools don't prevent viruses from entering your system, but only work when the system has already been infected. Second, they usually don't provide you with a cure for the infection, but only with the diagnosis.

Online anti-virus apps can be divided into two main groups: those which analyze a single file with multiple different anti-virus engines, and those which analyze a bunch of files with one single anti-virus tool.

  Multiple Analysis

VirusTotal - analyzes your file with 37 different anti-virus tools. You have the option to send the file via SSL for higher security. The service is  usually not very overloaded, which makes it quite fast.

ViruScan - similar to the previous one, but with 20 different anti-virus tools. ViruScan is fast and efficient, but features a quite unattractive interface.

NoVirusThanks - another similar online anti-virus tool with 23 different analysis engines. You can also search for specific files using the MD5 Hash.

Virus.org - online analysis tool with 22 engines. The only drawback is that the file size is limited to 5 MB, so if you want to scan a larger file you'll have to look elsewhere.

VirScan - The largest online multiple anti-virus service, featuring 39 different engines - though a bit slow as well. File size is also limited, but to 10 MB this time.

VirusChief - a slightly more modest online anti-virus with 10 different engines. Oddly enough, the list lacks many important engines such as NOD32, Kaspersky or Virusscan.

Filterbit - Filterbit allows you to upload files up to 20 MB in size. The drawback is that it only features 8 anti-virus engines, but at least it does the job quite fast.

  Single anti-virus analysis

Rather than analyzing just a single file, these online anti-virus tools scan the whole system and inform you of the presence of any viruses on your computer. The ones marked with an asterisk can actually remove the viruses from your system; the rest are just diagnosis tools.

• BitDefender Online Scanner* - Requires Internet Explorer / ActiveX.
• ESET Online Scanner* - Requires Internet Explorer / ActiveX.
• F-Secure* - Requires Internet Explorer / ActiveX.
• Kaspersky - Requires Java.
• McAfee Freescan - Requires Internet Explorer / ActiveX.
• OneCare Live* - Requires Internet Explorer / ActiveX.
• Panda ActiveScan - For Firefox (extension) and IE (ActiveX).
• Symantec Security Check - Requires Internet Explorer / ActiveX.
• TrendSecure HouseCall* - Requires Java or IE/ ActiveX.

Via: OnSoftware Spain

In light of Kaspersky's recent announcement that they have developed a Mac anti-virus application "in case" any big Mac viruses break-out in the near future, the debate has been ignited again over whether Macs really need anti-virus software. Kaspersky made the announcement at the CBit technology exhibition currently taking place in Hannover, Germany. Conspiracy theorists may suggest that if any major Mac viruses do "suddenly" emerge, Kaspersky's announcement would be viewed with extreme suspicion although the company say:

We see that Mac OS is taking a bigger and bigger share of the market. We made the prototype to be ready just in case.

For most people who use Macs, the reason for their choice is based mainly on its functionality and all round design although the fact that they are largely immune from the viruses that plague Windows has also attracted many converts. However, this doesn't mean that they are bullet proof to attacks. As Infoworld point out:

There have been no attacks on the scale that affects Windows machines, such as the Storm Worm. But Apple's software is far from perfect: In December, Apple issued 31 updates for Mac OS X. Its QuickTime multimedia player has also been patched several times.

Nevertheless, if you ask Mac users whether they use an anti-virus software, the answer will usually be "No" since attacks are so infrequent. Conspiracies aside, vendors such as Kaspersky and F.Secure are basically saying, "The more people who start to use Macs, the more chance there is that viruses will be developed for them." Operating system monitors Net Applications estimate that, at present time, only 7.6% of home internet users use a Mac although this figure is growing all the time.

The Mac virus debate has even been highlighted by the BBC which attracted a glut of comments from Mac users, the majority of which stated that they do not use a virus checker. Nevertheless, a common theme throughout the comments is "Better to be safe than sorry" and although there are very few antivirus options available on the Mac, you might like to try McAfee VirusScan for Mac or VirusBarrier X5.

Kaspersky Antivirus 2012 is one of the most powerful virus prevention suites on the market. As with many antivirus solutions, though, there is a temptation to set it up as quickly as possible, never exploring the more advanced options available.

It's worth delving into the settings menu in Kaspersky Antivirus 2012: it has lots of different options for managing the way the application runs and what it does to your system.

I’ll explain some of the useful features in Kaspersky's Advanced Settings. This menu can be accessed by clicking the  Settings tab at the top-right of the user interface, then clicking the Advanced Settings tab, which is the fourth and final in the row of icons (it looks like a box).

Detect Threats and Exclusion Rules

The first option in the settings menu allows you to define the type of threat you want Kaspersky to look for. Besides viruses and Trojans, the software can scan for adware, auto-dialers, and strangely created compressed files.

It’s also possible to exclude certain applications from these scans by clicking the Settings button in the Exclusions section.

If a teenager from New Jersey can unlock an iPhone, you realise how sensitive mobiles are to attack. It only needs you to leave you phone unattended on the seat next to you on the bus and all of a sudden your whole communication world can collapse.

Besides theft and hacking, cellphones are also at risk from viruses downloaded in incoming messages or when you're online on your phone. Although not as common as PC viruses, it's just as important to protect your mobile device from bugs as it is on a computer. I've picked out an essential toolkit of mobile software to keep your phone secure:

Kaspersky Anti-Virus Mobile - One of the most comprehensive antivirus solutions for handhelds, Kaspersky protects your device without draining system resources, making it an essential for any security-savvy user.

Smart Guard - There's more data about your personal life on your phone than almost anywhere else. Smart Guard protects all of your personal information, such as messages, contacts, videos and pictures, both in the internal memory and on memory cards.

Phone Guardian - Getting your phone stolen is a real drag. Phone Guardian makes this occurrence a little more bearable, allowing you to remotely secure and auto-lock your Symbian phone by sending it a lock SMS.

Smart Gallery - Another program for blocking Peeping Toms, Smart Gallery lets you apply protection to your photos, sounds, video and more. This means that you'll be the only one who can access the protected areas of your phone.

Mobile Alarm - I love this app because it allows you to catch phone thieves red-handed. By transparently using your phone's camera, Mobile Alarm will trigger a siren whenever the mobile is moved.

As a recent convert to the joys of smartphones, I keep a close eye on the top Android news. I was pretty surprised to read two pieces of scary news in a single day recently. Over in the UK, veteran broadcasters the BBC have apparently created their own malicious smartphone app to see how easy it would be to track users and steal data. It was deliberately a very simple code masquerading as a game and, unfortunately for us, it worked pretty well.

Meanwhile on the other side of the old continent, Kaspersky Labs claims to have discovered the first Trojan specifically targeted at Android in Russia. The malicious code is apparently disguised as a media player and, once downloaded, sends text messages to a premium number without the owner's knowledge.

Even though we always take virus warnings from anti-virus manufactures with a pinch of salt, the concept of new risks for smartphones isn't surprising - if there's a new device out there that hasn't been infected with something nasty, it's just a matter of time until it is. Even so, all you Android users out there need to be aware of two things in the midst of all this hysteria: firstly, anybody who was infected with the trojan installed the software willingly. Secondly- and most crucially -  they also had to give it explicit access to the features it misused.

Google, Android's developer, reminds users that any software downloaded in their Market has built-in protection against this, in the form of a stopscreen that explains exactly what items an application from the Market will be able to access. Third-party apps don't have that extra layer. Viruses suck, but I think that in this particular case, we can safely conclude that the infected users pretty much brought the problems on themselves. Being OnSoftware, however, we're not going to leave the paranoid among you without any options. If you really do think you're running a risk, check out Antivirus. We don't though, so rest easy, responsible Android users, you're safe!

USB sticks, memory keys, pendrives. It doesn't really matter what you call them, memory sticks are useful creatures. It's precisely this usefulness, though, that leads to their major weakness: most people use them all the time without a second thought. They swap them between colleagues, lend them to friends and stick them into unfamiliar computers. Is it any wonder they are a major security risk?!

If you are an occasional user of a memory stick, it might be enough to run a context menu scan when you plug it in. Of course, this option has to be facilitated by your regular anti-virus, but most of the top ones, AVG and Kaspersky for example, offer this tool. Just find the memory stick in My Computer, right click, and chose Scan with....

If you are a more frequent user, you might want a specific anti-virus that targets memory sticks and USB drives. The trial version of USB Disk Security only offers one option, but it's a good one - real-time monitoring of your computer for security risks from USB devices. It sits in the taskbar until you connect USB stick and lets you know if it there's a problem.

Having survived the first day at the Mobile World Congress, we've been back for more today.

Here are some of the highlights from the announcements and apps on display today.

"There are no real-life viruses for Mac OS X. There never have been."

A point of frequent disagreement between Mac and Windows evangelists is security. With the arrival of OS X, Apple and some of its customers used the threat of viruses on Windows as a key selling point for its Mac line of computers. After that came a backlash of articles and posts claiming that OS X was in fact no safer than Windows and could even be at more risk.

There are three key areas to look at when it comes to this topic: Hacking, and its security implications for OS X, Security through obscurity, and System architecture. Read on to see why I argue that Mac OS X is just as safe as Windows 7, and how it might actually be even more secure than Microsoft's latest OS.

[Image includes elements created by Graham Colm]

Hacking, PwntoOwn and implications for OS X

Every year, Apple's web browser Safari gets some bad press for being 'the first browser to be hacked' at the Pwn2own security event. The results of the contest are frequently used to dismiss Apple's claims that its products are 'more secure'. I'm convinced that the vast majority of people who read reports (often on mainstream news sites like The Guardian) about Mac OS being 'hacked' at Pwn2own have little understanding of what the term 'hacked' means, or the terms of the contest.

Windows: Kaspersky PURE, the latest offering from the Kaspersky stable, is truly a thing to behold. It is a comprehensive, smooth and effective anti-virus, and deserves special note for its parental control settings. All this magnificence comes at a price however; it is extremely hard on your computer's resources. Give it a try and see if it's worth the drag.

Mac: Camtasia Studio has been available on Windows for quite some time now but developers at Techsmith have finally given Mac users a chance to enjoy all it has to offer. Now updated to version 1.1, the interface is still sleek, the production process straightforward, and recording is flexible enough to allow you to make plenty of inevitable errors without starting from scratch again.

iPhone: If your friends or family use iPhones or BlackBerrys, WhatsApp is designed to make SMS a thing of the past. With the app installed, users can send each other free messages using WiFi or 3G. The app syncs with your iPhone contacts and anyone else who has WhatsApp installed will be able to exchange SMS messages with you for free!