Viruses, Trojans and Outdated Software

I've always been one of those people who backs up her data and updates the virus protection program.  It comes from living with a techie—fantastic husband, but I just never wanted to explain how I had lost data or had the computer crippled by a virus.  I had heard enough stories through the years about clients who hadn't.

Imagine my surprise when all of a sudden Internet Explorer kept popping up and opening all sorts of "very interesting" pages. There definitely wasn't any parental controls working on those pages, that's for sure.  But what I couldn't understand, is that I don't use Internet Explorer as a browser. I've been using Mozilla Firefox for some time. 

So like any reasonable computer owner I checked my virus protection program. It was up to date and had done a system scan the previous day. So I ran the program again since there were no updates available.  No luck! The incoming pages from Internet Explorer were interrupting my work and getting progressively raunchier. 

Time to Call For Help

I called my husband. He was out of town and due back in a couple of hours. After he told me to do (what I had already done); I told him I'd see him when he got home. 

There was some, abeit slight satisfaction, actually minimal when my husband checked the computer. He couldn't fix the computer either. 

Then it all turned to frustration.  Seems that computer software isn't like a car. You maintain a car, take it to a good mechanic and it works. But software isn't like that and outlives its abilitity to be updated.

Seems I had a 2004 version of a reputable antivirus software and had been updated it. But older interfaces-or whatever the term is- can't always be updated.

So there is now a new antivirus program on my computer.  Trend Micro's tech department got to spend 3 very interesting days with me calling in. Communication is a challenge at times when your computer won't do what a tech says it's supposed to.  At one point I handed the phone to my husband and said, "You tell them it won't download."   After that the calls seemed to go smoother.

We're almost there with the unraveling of the viruses, trojans and spyware.

But I never realized what havoc those things can create.  Also never realized my dependence on the computer. Ouch! 

But I think what bothered me the most-the virus program was an affiliate program!  The person, where ever you are, pray I never meet you! He/she/it had franchised his program to others and paid them a commission!!  Nothing like the Internet Biz!

Lesson learned?  Update your antivirus and spyware program and scan your computer on a regularly scheduled basis. But each year, buy the next edition and install that program. It's definitely worth the money, time and peace of mind. 

To learn more about spyware, malware and viruses go to: http://onguardonline.gov/

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Alysan