Posted by Hollywood Lonnie on Thursday, April 15, 2004 at 3:08PM :
In Reply to: computer troubles - viruses and worms posted by RDavis on Thursday, April 15, 2004 at 0:32AM :
There are lots of good people in the world unknowingly spreading diesease because they feel ok and never need a checkup. After all, if they feel ok, they can't have anything right? Its the same with computers.
You do not need to visit the shady side of the internet to get a virus. The only way to completely prevent a virus from infecting your computer is to buy a new computer, Install the operating system and never put another cd, floppy, etc into it. Oh yes, never attach a network cable or phone line to it. If you do any of the above, you are a prime target for a virus.
I would be willing to bet you a doughnut that you have in the neighborhood of 200 spybots on your computer right now. Also at least 20 viruses, and you might be infecting other computers without even knowing it. Some viruses can even turn your computer in to a spam mail generator that might be sending advertisments for those shady sites. It doesn't make you a bad person unless you don't do anything about it now that you know. There are some good - free spybot and virus checkers out on the internet. I use a free spybot checker from www.lavasoft.com. It caught 50 on its first run on mine. It caught 200 on its first run on my Moms older pc. And you can bet the bank that my Mom doesn't frequent shady sites.
Best Wishes
Lonnie