It is very common these days for travelers to spend considerable time in internet cafes while traveling overseas. You will find internet cafes in almost every popular tourist destination around the world. They are popular with people seeking to check their email, plot their next destination, and to download pictures from their cameras.

The problem is that most of these internet cafes are usually set up for a quick profit and are usually not maintained very well. As a result, the computers become ideal hosts for dangerous computer viruses.

The virus ridden computers may be slow and crash prone, but they are usually not dangerous to you if all you are doing is checking email. You should be careful to avoid using your credit cards on-line or accessing any confidential sites at these places because there is a good chance that your passwords and other account information are being monitored or recorded by the viruses.

The danger comes when you plug in your camera or USB flash drive to these infected machines. Most of the typical computer viruses at these establishments will immediately infect your USB drive and camera. Usually they will not damage your photos but that is not always the case. The main problem comes when you next plug in your camera or USB drive to your own laptop or computer. The virus will immediately infect and mess up your computer.

If you would like to avoid these types of problems, there are a few things you can do. For photos, you can often hand your memory card to the internet cafe shop owner and have them create a CD with your photos on it. Immediately after doing so, you can put the memory card in your camera and format it. This will erase everything on the memory stick, including the virus, making it safe to use later.

Another option is to travel with a non-Microsoft operating system on your laptop. Most viruses target computers running Microsoft operating systems. There are a number of alternatives available and most will be far less vulnerable to computer viruses. Using a “safe” computer will let you clean and delete infected files from your various flash drives and memory cards.

However, if you are running a typical Windows PC or laptop, it is important to install several layers of security. First, make sure you have a fairly recent anti-virus program. If you haven’t downloaded updates for your anti-virus program in a while, then your anti-virus program isn’t doing you any good. Make sure you have installed all available anti-virus updates.

Simply running an anti-virus program isn’t good enough anymore. The viruses are getting too sophisticated and crafty. All it takes is for one computer virus to get through your defenses. They will often disable your anti-virus program or make it think it is still working, even though you are now wide open to infection.

Some anti-virus programs offer additional layers of protection and will automatically block new, unknown programs from running. These anti-executable features are very powerful against the type of viruses you can catch from internet cafes. There are also a number of stand-alone “anti-executable” type programs that you can install for additional layers of security.

It is hard enough to avoid picking up strange diseases while traveling overseas. The last thing you want to do is bring home a computer virus as well. With simple planning and precautions, it is possible to avoid both fates.

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