I have gotten quite a bit of grief from friends and clients since I posted about not needing anti-virus software any more. People have been programmed to think they need this software to be safe.
I have to admit that for years I was the one doing the programming. I suggested to every client that they install PC-Cillin on all of their computers. And that they keep it updated and running. All the time.
Times were different a few years back. Viruses were being created and deployed on a very regular basis. It was a serious threat.
For those of you who don’t know me well, and don’t know about my business, let me share some things with you. For the past 23 years I have provided computers and computer support, training and troubleshooting to over 300 small businesses in the Salt Lake City area.
At the present time I am responsible for maintaining computer systems for about 40 companies. Together these companies have over 400 workstations. It is up to me to make sure that they work and that they work well.
Over the past year I have not seen a computer infected with what we have come to know as a computer virus. I think the last outbreak I worked on was the "Blaster" a few years back.
I have seen many computers infected with malware such as "Antivirus 2009" or "Security System 2009". These programs literally take over your system and prevent you from doing anything.
So what is the point of the malware? Good Question!
The current wave of hackers who create malware are after your money. They are going to get it if you actually buy their software, which the say will keep your computer safe, or they will let you think you are buying their software and they will abuse your credit card info.
So how do you protect yourself from the malware? Try these things…
1. Turn off the preview pane in your email client – if you get a message with spyware attached and the preview pane is open, you could become infected by just clicking on the message.
2. Install and run on a regular basis a program called Malwarebytes. Download it from www.download.com and install and update it. Perform a quick scan and then a complete scan. This will remove any nasty programs with little effort.
3. Stay away from Hotmail – in my experience Hotmail has been the biggest culprit. Use Gmail from Google.
4. PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT IS ON YOUR SCREEN – if you visit a website and it blasts you with warnings that your computer is infected, just stop and shut your computer off. Toggle to your open programs and save your data but do not do anything else in your browser. If you are familiar with the task manager, you could open it and use the end task function to close your browser.
5. Stay away from sites that might cause problems. Game sites and porn sites are notorious for downloading malware to your computer. If you must visit these sites, consider a separate computer for these functions.
6. Make sure you have a good backup of your data and if possible a clone or image of you hard drive.
That’s it for today…. more on this in the future.