Be very cautious...
04-20-2013, 07:03 AM
#11
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Clinton, OK
Posts: 1,736
Originally Posted by ontheriver
They are everywhere! Used to have problems with my PC, now have a Mac and not once in 4 years so far, knock on wood. Will never go back to PC.
04-20-2013, 08:45 AM
#13
Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Missouri
Posts: 246
Originally Posted by ontheriver
They are everywhere! Used to have problems with my PC, now have a Mac and not once in 4 years so far, knock on wood. Will never go back to PC.
I, too, have a Mac. My friend convinced me to get MacKeeper to keep my Mac clean. It did catch a Trojan horse once, but otherwise it cleans the cache and keeps it running smooth. When I had a PC I had a lot of trouble with viruses, etc. The last straw was when I opened a file that I had for a long time, and there were big bugs crawling on the screen. That certainly was a dead give-away! Even with my Mac I don't open anything unless I know who it is from and even then, when it is a message from something like ebay, my bank, paypal, or even USPS (that is where the Trojan horse scam came from) I always go to the official site to see if anything is going on and send them a fraud message. We have to be soooooo careful these days!
04-20-2013, 10:55 AM
#14
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Not Here
Posts: 3,817
I'm a computer systems administrator (among other things in the IT field) which means I handle servers and networks, and sometimes I have to spend a lot of time cleaning up malicious software off of desktop computers.
Nowadays, it's not enough to run just an anti-virus program.
Look at MalwareBytes Anti-malware. The free version is usually more than enough. Most of the garbage out there is more malware (scareware, ransomware, etc) than virus. An Antivirus product won't deal with malware in most cases.
As a general rule: Never pay anyone for something you didn't ask for. scareware and ransomware are what I'm talking about here. You suddenly end up with "something" on your computer, and it's saying there's something bad, and it will remove it if you pay them. Don't. Remove it, and use your AV program and Malware scanner to make sure that all traces are removed.
And please avoid Norton. Out of 20 computers that I remove real viruses from (not malware) easily 17 of them will have up to date Norton products on it. I think they spend significantly more on their marketing than they do on Research and Development.
Microsoft's Security Essentials is working really well for me and my clients. It's also free.
Macs are almost as vulnerable as PCs, if they're used incorrectly. At the end of the day, you can do the least damage to a machine, Mac or PC, by running as a limited or unprivileged user. More often than not, you'll find that Windows has set you up as an Administrator. This is unsafe. Some people will run as a privileged user on a Mac too.
Nowadays, it's not enough to run just an anti-virus program.
Look at MalwareBytes Anti-malware. The free version is usually more than enough. Most of the garbage out there is more malware (scareware, ransomware, etc) than virus. An Antivirus product won't deal with malware in most cases.
As a general rule: Never pay anyone for something you didn't ask for. scareware and ransomware are what I'm talking about here. You suddenly end up with "something" on your computer, and it's saying there's something bad, and it will remove it if you pay them. Don't. Remove it, and use your AV program and Malware scanner to make sure that all traces are removed.
And please avoid Norton. Out of 20 computers that I remove real viruses from (not malware) easily 17 of them will have up to date Norton products on it. I think they spend significantly more on their marketing than they do on Research and Development.
Microsoft's Security Essentials is working really well for me and my clients. It's also free.
Macs are almost as vulnerable as PCs, if they're used incorrectly. At the end of the day, you can do the least damage to a machine, Mac or PC, by running as a limited or unprivileged user. More often than not, you'll find that Windows has set you up as an Administrator. This is unsafe. Some people will run as a privileged user on a Mac too.
04-20-2013, 12:37 PM
#15
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Western New York
Posts: 381
Originally Posted by oh munner
So, please be very cautious when going on to web-sites such as Pinterest etc. Some of the "pins" may be infected and when you click on to get a recipe or pattern, whatever, you end up infecting your computer. Also, don't think that because you have Norton you're safe. That's what I had and as it was explained to me, they can only protect against known viruses. So, be careful!
04-20-2013, 02:07 PM
#16
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 2,667
Thanks for this tip! I had not heard of it. I do know that sometimes it is impossible to use the X to close it, they usually want you to click something else, then you install something else -- usually something you do not need or want!
Originally Posted by ptquilts
I use Mimedia AND Dropbox, they do the same thing (back up files) but I feel safer with two!! Both free, BTW.
One thing I learned, when you get something popping up that you don't know what it is (might say Security Alert or whatever) Do NOT click on the "X" to close it - that is how the bad stuff gets into your computer. Go to Task Manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del) and shut it down from there. Still hard for me to remember to do that.
One thing I learned, when you get something popping up that you don't know what it is (might say Security Alert or whatever) Do NOT click on the "X" to close it - that is how the bad stuff gets into your computer. Go to Task Manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del) and shut it down from there. Still hard for me to remember to do that.
04-20-2013, 04:07 PM
#17
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: AZ and CT
Posts: 4,898
I have Avast! and Malawares and they have saved me from many viruses and Trojan horses. You're right - there are a LOT on Pinterest! I get messages every time I look through abunch of Pinterest quilty pictures.
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