QOTD: Has a Virus Ever Infected Your PC?
Once in a while, there's always a major outbreak of computer viruses. This year, the Conficker virus is making the rounds.
Simply put, computer viruses don't play on vulnerabilities of the operating system, they play on the inexperienced. This is of course, unfortunate. Several years ago, viruses were the only hot news in terms of malicious software. Now, spy-ware, ad-ware and other forms of malware are the hottest topics.
Even if you're experienced and savvy with computers, there are always going to be friends and family members that are not so experienced with how to handle themselves around a computer. It's always easier to trust people we know, and virus writers know this. I personally hate receive emails from anyone that asks me to check out a cool or funny slide show. It doesn't even matter if it's from my family--the email goes into the trash right away.
Then there's simply normal email. Not enough people know how to use the BCC (blind carbon copy) field in their email client when sending out emails to multiple recipients. This frustrates the heck out of me.
The question of the day is: Has a virus--or other nasty adware--ever infected your computer?
Let me know what you use to protect yourself, if anything.
Personally, I haven't used an anti-virus for nearly a decade. It all boils down to knowing what to keep an eye out for. But sometimes, just sometimes...
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Tekkamanraiden I get virus every once in a while, usually while fixing someones computer. Can't aways killdisk and reformat. Sometime they want to to try and save their data.Reply -
deltatux No viruses on the systems that I own since 2003. However, my family computers ... not so much since they have less security scrutiny than the amount of attention to security detail that I place on my computers.Reply -
MagicPants Once back in 1999 I got the stone monkey-b virus. Nothing since then. I've had virus checkers catch things about 3 times that I think were real threats. These days I use no script, ad-block, kaspersky and a hardware firewall.Reply
I know ad-block is bad for the sites I visit, I wish there was a way to just block the annoying flashing or slow loading ads instead of everything. -
Tech-Boy Yes only once. I used no anti virus for 3 years until one day bam the screen changed its background and the computer would not work properly. Since then I have used avg free and haven't gotten a virus since.Reply -
leo2kp When I don't turn off scripting, then yea I get them. Happily I don't forget to do that too often when I'm looking something up potentially hazardous :) I've only had two infections in the past 7 years, none of which were too terribly bad, but I reimaged nonetheless.Reply -
theubersmurf I had one once, but on a computer bought several years ago and has since been reformatted and sold to someone else.Reply
I Use Panda's Antivirus since then.
A funny story, the computer that got infected was a dell, with a free brief subscription to McAfee Antivirus. When I got the virus, I called McAfee for support, the tech I talked to, recommended That I switch to either Panda or Trend Micro's PC-cillin. Never had a problem since. So, at least, if McAfee's product was completely ineffective (and it was) at least their tech support is good. :P -
jhansonxi Not with Linux. I have a separate subnet for Windows systems under repair. They usually have viruses so on this subnet they don't get gateway access and can't connect out. I then run Knoppix on them, export the drives with Samba, and offload the user's files from a Linux system. Then I format, reinstall, update, install anti-malware apps, and then transfer the user's files back. The Windows system is good for a month or two.Reply