There are always new types of computer viruses to be aware of! Keep up to date with the scourge of PC's everywhere.
Computer viruses - these stealthy things that appear out of nowhere, steal your personal information and make away with your money - are not all the same. One of the newest types of computer viruses doing the rounds on the Internet follows the model of using social networking sites. Take the WTF virus that hit Twitter recently. The virus would appear in the form of a link; if you clicked on it, it would take control of your Twitter account and send obscene messages. The problem with these types of computer viruses is that they put paid to one of the best rules that we've had to go by to avoid getting infected - it's no longer safe to trust a message that comes from a trusted friend. These viruses can take control of the account of a trusted friend and send automated messages with viruses in them.
But the social media aren't the only avenues that the makers of viruses are focused on at this time. They actually try to get into the most people's lives possible everyday through whatever happens to be a hot topic search on that day. If something about Lindsay Lohan or Charlie Sheen is top of the charts on Google, they try to quickly design a virus, and a webpage to put it on, that might look relevant to the current hot topic, and unleash it. If you are looking for something to do with Charlie Sheen, the hackers know that the desire for gossip can override most people's defenses. Polls by antivirus makers find that people, when they are anxious to know something about some new pop-culture event or news item, are always willing to click on risky links to learn more. In particular, antivirus makers find that people are the most willing to click on dangerous and unknown links when they are offered scandalous pictures of celebrities, gossip to do with porn, fantasy sports statistics and unbelievable deals on things.
How do some types of computer viruses catch on like wildfire while others languish in obscurity, doing their evil deeds for no recognition? It all depends on how a virus is programmed. Some viruses are able to create new mutations of themselves to stave off detection. When that happens, a virus can be quite unstoppable. Why, virus designers even make fake antivirus software that they try to get you to pay them for. If you have a pop-up window come up when you are in the middle of using the Internet for something else, and you see a message that warns you that a virus has been found and that you need to pay to have it neutralized, you can be pretty sure that it's a message from the maker of a virus who wants you to pay for the privilege of downloading a dangerous virus. When that happens, you want to make sure that you don't have any contact with that website from that point forward. You need to go to your task manager and shut off your browser.
Do you remember ever having read about any virus maker who was placed under arrest? It's quite likely that you don't. These people are impossible to arrest. This is sort of crime that is impossible to prosecute. It's what makes computer security so difficult.
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One particular anti-virus company I have found to be a great alternative to the leading household names is Kaspersky. They really are beginning to make a name for themselves in terms of quality and sheer depth of search-and-destroy protection.
