Viruses

Have I Caught a Virus?

Viruses online are like viruses offline – not nice to catch and can cause big problems.  Unfortunately viruses online are shared in much the same way as in the real world – the more people you contact and share things with, the greater the chance of catching something and passing it on. 

In the same way as we cant see the viruses that give us colds or other illnesses the same is usually the case with viruses that spread online.  They often come in emails or pop-ups and they are likely to be passed on to your contacts and friends without you even realising it.

Some affect the way your computer works while others are there to affect not only your time online but also those of your friends as you pass it on.

A few simple steps …

Follow a few simple steps to help protect yourself from online viruses:

• keep your virus protection up to date – sounds simple but thousands forget to do it – check the settings and make sure they are working and giving you total protection
• don’t open emails from people you don’t know in the real world;
• don’t accept music and picture files from people or services you don’t know including from file sharing sites such as Limewire, Kazaar and BitTorrent;
• don’t click on pop-ups – use altF4 instead to get rid of them;
• never enter a password into a site that doesn’t carry a secure symbol;
• don’t pass on your passwords etc in emails