PSA

[zengar]

If you are running without anti-virus you could be part of this. I will admit that I myself spent several years with my computer protected only by an expired copy of Norton, but I was on dialup at the time, and the writers of malware weren't as advanced. These days, it's not just your own computer you are risking by being an easy target.

While working at my previous job, I got to watch the rise of malware from destructive toys written to show that they could to big business. There were a couple of years in the middle where the programs became increasingly sophisticated about defending themselves, but that dropped away over time. Their creators realized that it was a far more efficient use of their time to accelerate the spread of their tools, rather than protect it on a system where it was noticed. There are always more easy targets.

Like a great many things in life, we can do far more good by raising the security level of the lowest common denominator by just one step, than we could by adding 10 levels to the top ten percent. Most effective would be training every computer user about what not to click on, but even just installing a basic Anti-virus program like AVG antivirus or Avast! will make a world of difference.

Comments

[jdack.livejournal.com]

In the earlier days when I still used Windows, I relied on my own knowledge and sense to avoid viruses (back when you had to be dumb and download/install attachments from un-trusted sources, etc.) Fortunately by the time the more advanced methods came out, (rpc, activex sploits, embedded worms, etc) I'd switched to Mac at home and Linux at work.

But you bet your ass I have every one of my employees at the office who runs windows using an up-to-date version of AVG.