• Wash your hands. Your best protection against a cold virus is to wash your hands often with soap and water. Be extra vigilant with hand washing during cold season if you work with kids or if you are around someone with a cold, especially someone in your own household.

  • Keep a stash of gel. If you can't always get to a sink, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends keeping some alcohol-based gel cleanser with you and using it often.

  • Keep your hands away from your face. Because cold viruses like to get into your body through your mouth, nose, and eyes, keeping your hands away from these body parts is essential to keeping colds at bay.

  • Use your own stuff. Don't use a cold-sufferer's phone, keyboard, pen, drinking glass, or any other item where a cold virus can lie in wait.

  • Do some disinfecting. Viruses are hardy creatures that can live up to three hours on objects. Use a disinfectant that specifically targets cold viruses to clean common areas.

  • Keep that immune system humming. Eat right, exercise, and manage stress to keep your immune system at its best to help you fight off any cold bug.

  • Avoid the crowd. Because cold viruses are so contagious, you improve your chances of not getting one if you stay away from the pack.

  • Be wary of popular "cures." There is no conclusive scientific evidence that echinacea, zinc, or vitamin C can cure a cold. In fact, taking too much of one of these can cause unwanted side effects, such as nausea.