Viruses - Better Safe than Sorry

We get asked all the time why do people make viruses? Do they get a kick out of hurting computers? There's no easy answer to that. All these people seem to be looking for notoriety. The virus writers seem to have a competition on who can make the nastiest virus. As we have seen in the last year, these writers have become very clever.

We at support.com are professionals at removing these viruses from your computers, however, we want to give you some armor to protect yourself.

Here are a few tips that will help keep you safe:

1. Don't believe anything in an email.

OK, let me clarify. If you get an email from your sister saying she is going to have a baby, you will probably want believe that! However, email that says you must run an attachment to protect your computer is always going to be a lie. Don't believe it! Microsoft will never send you an email telling you to do updates. If you get an email like this, delete it. It is a virus.

2. Don't believe anything in an email.

So, your friend sends you an email saying "you need to do a search for a certain file on your computer. If you find the file, you must delete it. It is a virus." Guess what? That is a lie. No matter whom the email is from, even if it's your best friend, it's not true. These emails are hoaxes. All you need to do is a little research. Use your favorite internet search tool and look for "email hoaxes" and you will see that these types of email are always false.

3. Don't believe anything in an email.

No matter how funny or cute the email says an attachment is, use extreme caution before opening it. Be aware of what kinds of email attachments can carry viruses.

The Internet is a huge resource of information. Use it to do some investigating before you decide to open an attachment, delete a file, or forward anything on. You'll be a lot happier in the long run.