Again, most creators write viruses to exploit these programs because the programs are popular, not because they are better or worse than other available software. Rather then changing applications, your best bet for protection is to be sure that you are alert to updates for your software. Almost all software manufacturers have lists of updates, fixes, and security patches available for download from their Web sites. Furthermore, the vast majority of antivirus programs will automatically update their definition files, making it unnecessary for you to manually locate them.