They look pretty real … pop ups that tell you your computer is infected and it's time to purchase another anti-virus program, or emails from a bank alerting you to a possible identity theft.
But scammers are playing right into our fear of being taken.
Ken Presley still doesn't know how his computer got infected with a virus but not long ago he noticed it was painfully slow.
“The worst part was just the pop ups,” said Presley.
The pop up would come up and you'd click on the close button or you'd exit out in the corner and try to make it go away and it was just this nefarious little box that would not go away.”
So Presley called on Brian Irey with ITG Networking in Greenville to diagnose the problem. And quickly found out he had the WP Antivirus.
“I've had a number of clients get that,” said Irey.
“A lot of times they get a link that comes from a legitimate source like Facebook or something like that and they accidentally click over to it and it's a phishing site or a site that downloads viruses or something like that.”
You could also click on the wrong link in a Google search or in an email
And when it comes to email, keep in mind, our web mail accounts like yahoo and g-mail are often used to open financial accounts and networking sites. So we shouldn’t' be dismissive about our passwords.
A recent survey by security software developer Sophos found nearly half of us only use a few different passwords, and a third of us only have one.
Accessing our webmail is a goldmine for cybercriminals who not only seek our personal information but also use these accounts to get past spam filters.
Be sure to change your password frequently to stay protected.
As for protecting your computer from viruses...
ITG Networking recommends getting one of the following free anti-viral programs:
Avast Anti-Spyware: http://www.avast.com
-or-
AVG Internet Security: http://free.avg.com/us-en/download
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