After a conversation with Larry McJannet, chief executive officer for Este in the United States, Mr. Saunders downloaded the providers antivirus program and put it to work.

That was a year-and-a-half ago, and Mr. Saunders said “it works like a piece of cake.” The software cleared up his problem, not conflicting with his agency management system, and has been keeping his system protected.

“What I love about it is that it is so simple to use, you dont need a manual,” said Mr. Saunders.

Mr. McJannet explained that the efficiency behind Estes antivirus software, which can only be purchased over the Web, is that it was designed within the Eastern bloc while under the control of the Soviet Union, outside of the influence of Microsoft Windows. The design developed different protocols to catch viruses faster while using less computer memory to accomplish the task. There are also fewer conflicts with agency management systems.

Another advantage is that when it comes to updates, Este automatically sends small bits of information to add to the program. The major antivirus software programs, he said, send larger bits of information that take longer to download.

The antivirus software works with all computer platforms except Apple, he added.

There are other avenues agents can look to for help in combating virus attacks.

Keith Savino, president of Insure Help and partner with Warwick Resource Group in Warwick, N.Y., noted that Microsoft Outlook users should never go directly to an e-mail through auto preview or click on an e-mail when there is an arrival message. If it is an e-mail that raises suspicions, dont open it, he advised. Instead, press “Shift” and “Delete,” and the e-mail will be deleted from the system, usually preventing activation of the virus.

Depending on the severity, sometimes after an attack an agent can get away with just reloading or restoring data from backup files, said Tom Pedder, director of service and technology for All Lines Technology in Greensburg, Pa. But after getting rid of the bug, if the computer will not re-boot, then more troubleshooting is needed. He noted that Nortons antivirus systems provide suggestions for recovery.

Ultimately, agents need to be aware that a virus can attack them and need to know as much about the defenses available to them as they do other areas of their business.

“Never shrink from the responsibility to understand technology in your office,” Mr. Savino advised.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, March 10, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.