I was having lunch with a close friend the other day and our conversation turned to the FBI computer virus, you know the virus that locks up your computer and says you have to send $300 to the FBI because you did something wrong on the Internet.
He recently caught the virus and lost a days work while his computer was in the shop getting the virus removed. He asked me how he got the virus and I replied that the 4 best ways to get a virus are:
- Peer 2 Peer file sharing web sites. P2P means that your computer is connected to another person’s computer and you are sharing files. Viruses get transferred during the file sharing process.
- FREE Gaming Websites will also get you with a virus. The people that make the games are trying to establish themselves as expert programmers and designers, they have the skill set to easily create a virus and launch it on your computer.
- Pornography websites always have a lot of viruses. I never have made the connection, but it’s there and a lot of viruses too. This is the easiest one to avoid.
- Email attachments are the easiest way to transfer a virus, but most people have learned to avoid email attachments they are not expecting.
Of course my friend denied any wrongdoing or naughty Internet surfing, so I explained that a virus can infect your computer and not harm anything for weeks (Trojan Horse) and you may never know where the virus came from. The best rule is to be cautious and if it looks suspicious, delete it and never download files from an email you were not expecting.
John McCann
704-662-6845
John McCann & Associates