The Facebook Fan Check Virus and What You Should Know

People who are on a Facebook friend's list may not even know that the link they are sending is infected. The virus may even be infecting their computer as they are sending it to all of their friends. Be aware that Facebook viruses spread through links that are sent throughout the Facebook network.

At first, the virus notifies the victim with a warning that they would have to update their flash player. Once they do this, the virus begins to spread. What happens when these viruses are downloaded in the computer is they take complete control over it. If any link (whether it be an attachment, a .HTML link, a PDF file or a hyperlink) is clicked on while on Facebook, there could be a potential attack on the computer, because virus software only takes a click to download, without warning. Another way to take precaution is to notice that if a dialog box appears and requests an update of Flash Player (while on Facebook), this is the initial process required to infect a computer with the Koobface virus.

Another Facebook mishap could be the Facebook Fan Check Virus. This "virus" was said to be an actual virus, when in fact it is a Facebook application. Later it was noted that this application led to malware. Although malware may not always be a virus, it is, however, malicious software that disguises itself as a required antivirus program, which can and will harm a computer.

It is also recommended not to Google or search for the Facebook Fan Check on your browser, because hackers have set up sites disguising themselves as required antivirus to rid the "Facebook Fan Check Virus" from a computer (Snopes.com). Once on one of these fraudulent sites and this bogus anti- Facebook Fan Check software is downloaded, all valuable and personal information is conveniently captured for the crook.

As with any concern that one may have about a computer virus, an easy way to spot one early on is to scan your computer. There are many ways to do this, because there are several types of legit computer anti virus software to purchase. It is highly recommended to run the computer's anti virus to check for a Facebook virus. Most of the time, if the anti virus is really good software, it will block any malicious downloads or warn of the possibility of a virus attack. Make sure that the anti virus is up to date all the time and run a virus scan at least weekly.

A computer can easily be diagnosed for the Facebook Virus and some of the symptoms may be:

• A slower running computer
• There may be computer error messages that weren't there before.
• When actually on Facebook, the applications will not work properly.
• The hard drive will constantly run, non-stop.
• The printer may not work properly.

These are a few things that could happen when trying to diagnose a Facebook virus. It is important to remember that no link on Facebook should be trusted, whether it be a website, PDF or HTML file, a hyperlink and even an email link (hackers could disguise these as a hyperlink), unless the sender is someone that can be trusted. Even at that, the sender alone may be unaware and the virus could still spread from computer to computer.