Computer Viruses - The Return!
Ok folks. Something is going on here. Twice in the last 24 hours I’ve been contacted by friends who have just been infected with a new strain of computer virus. One female friend just reinstalled Windows Vista and was done with it (drastic to say the least but she’s stubborn and hates asking for help) and the other friend is leaving on holidays today and is going to have to leave her computer unplugged and locked up until she gets back. Why? Her 15 year old son managed to download a really nasty virus from a porno site that’s designed to steal credit card numbers and other financial information.
Am I bothered that friends called me for help with this type of computer problem? Not at all - I’m a total nerd at heart and always will be to some extent.
No my problem is that these people were using freebie anti-virus programs that are months out-of-date and of absolutely no use in stopping an actual virus. All for the sake of a few dollars they’re willing to risk losing hours of time (in one case a lifetime of digital photographs) and frustration just because they’re too cheap to go and buy a decent anti-virus and firewall solution.
The attitude I see is “It won’t happen to me because I don’t download pirated movies/mp3s/games”. That’s about as shortsighted an approach to computer security as I can think of. It’s just plain dumb to be blunt.
What I can’t understand is that these people have zero clue about the risks they’re taking getting hit with virus and spyware infections. Viruses don’t announce their presence on your system like in those dumb hacker movies - there’s no skull and crossbones on your screen. No cryptic messages or any of the other nonsense that Hollywood would have you believe. The best and most dangerous viruses are the ones that do their very, very best to stay hidden.
Listen up folks. If you are not using a firewall package AND anti-virus software then I can promise that you are going to get hit with a virus and probably a nasty one at that. You cannot use one and not use the other. You’d also be wise to download and run Spybot or Ad-Aware at least once a month also to clear up spyware problems.
If you’re happy to risk financial disaster and identity theft then continue on taking risks online. Soon enough you’ll become a statistic with the rest of the “It won’t happen to me because…” crowd.
Worst part is that I’ll probably wind up writing Part III of this series…. shame.