Staying Safe Online From Computer Viruses
A computer virus is a program designed to ether destroy your computer, get your credit card number and other personal information, or just plan annoy you. You may have installed the program, or it automatically installed onto your computer when you visited a certain website. If you didn't download it, it is called a "drive by download"
1. Rogue
A rogue computer virus is something that says it's going to do something, but really isn't. The most popular rogue computer viruses are rogue anti-viruses. They pretend to scan your computer and make false claims saying you have a virus and that you need to buy their program in order to remove them. If any anti virus asks you to pay in order for it to remove the virus, it is a scam. Some popular are: Anti-virus 2009/2010/2008/XP/Vista, XP Police, error scan and more. Be on a lookout for these.
2. Adware
Adware is a program designed to go onto your computer and display ads, even if you're not on the internet. The program could seem like it's legit but is actually adware. The ever popular "Zango" adware puts a toolbar onto your web browser and displays ads. In return, Zango lets you watch their videos and use their search engine. Their search engine is not as good as Google or about any other, and the videos that they have are stolen by Youtube. Some other popular adware software are MyWebSearch, and all of the other my web products, Comet Cursor, 180SearchAssistant, FlashGet and more.
3. Spyware
Spyware is a piece of software that spies on your computer and takes the information it finds back to the creator of the product. They can take your search results or even personal information such as social secretly numbers and credit card numbers. Some popular programs are MyWebSearch, Zango, Zlob, CoolWebSearch, HuntBar and a lot more.
Now that you have learned different types of viruses, you're going to want to know how you're going to remove them. First you need a good Anti Virus. Mcafee is a pretty good anti virus. And Microsoft's "Windows Defender" which is free, can find and delete most viruses. If you are infected, go download a free version of Malware Bytes and update to the most recent version and do a full scan. Malware Bytes is my favorite program I use to remove these nasty pests. Remember, if a site seems too good to be true, don't go to it. Any site that looks weird, copy the link then go to siteadvisor.com and enter it in the search bar and see what rating they gave it. Stay safe!
Published by Seth Luke
My name is Seth Luke. I enjoy learning about computer viruses as well as listening to music. Feel free to contact me at jtuli007@gmail.com View profile
- Myspace Users Beware - Here Comes the AdwareIt seems that adware has found its way onto Myspace.
- Tips on How to Keep Your Computer Virus FreeMany people search the internet frantically to find ways to keep their computer virus free. They become frustrated when they buy a new computer from a retail store and it begins to slow down only after a few days.
- Are You Infected? - Dealing with a Computer VirusA short article on what to do if you suspect you have have a computer virus on your home computer.
- Can a Computer Virus Cause a Hard Drive to Fail?Here's a look at how computer viruses work, and whether any virus could possibly completely physically disable a working hard drive.
- Old School Versus New Age Computer Virus ScannersAs software evolved so did the viruses. And of course, along with them are the virus scanners. Is there a difference in the way virus scanners work today than it was more than a decade ago? Let me share my observations.
- What to Do If You Have a Computer Virus that Can Not Be Deleted
- How to Get Rid of a Computer Virus Manually
- The History of the Computer Virus
- Happy Birthday - The Computer Virus Turns 25
- Top 8 Computer Virus Hoaxes
- Clean Your Computer from Viruses
- Adware Legally Infesting Our Computers?
2 Comments
Post a CommentStay safe indeed.
Computer safety is important and always changing. Good one.