5 Ways You Can Get a Virus on Your Computer

Getting a computer virus is the highway robbery of the virtual world. Sometimes it is unavoidable, but we want you to be as prepared as possible to prevent such a disaster from occurring. Here are a five ways your computer can contract a virus:

  1. Open an email attachment from an unknown sender. Most viruses come in the form of email attachments and will infect your computer as soon as you open them. As a rule of thumb, do not open an email that you are not expecting if it is from an unfamiliar sender or organization. Furthermore, if the email has nonsense words in the subject line or consists of only a link, delete it immediately. This can occur even if you know the sender and their email account was hacked without their knowledge.
  1. You do not have an antivirus program installed on your computer. The best way to protect your computer against viruses is take the proactive approach and have a the proper managed antivirus solution installed. Antivirus software scans files before you open them and prevents you from entering infected sites. Because new viruses are constantly being created, it is crucial that you continue to update your computer with the most current antivirus software version. Contact ICC with any questions on antivirus – we’re experts here!
  1. Forget to perform antivirus scans. Although antivirus programs will catch the vast majority of viruses initially, it is still necessary to run scans preferably daily but at least weekly to thoroughly check that an inconspicuous virus has not entered into your operating system.
  1. Enter personal information into untrusted websites. If you have not manually arrived at a web page, do not enter user account, financial or any other personal information. Rather than clicking on a hyperlink to get to a new page, enter the web address into a new browser manually to ensure that you are not led to a hacked page.
  1. Click on a pop-up. Some pop-up ads contain malicious coding that can infect your computer if accidentally clicked. In order to prevent pop-ups from even entering your computer screen, change your browser’s settings to disable all pop-ups.

Although these tips will certainly reduce your computer’s risk of obtaining a virus, anything can happen. If you think your computer may be infected, give us a call immediately at 970-821-8592, and we’ll fix the problem to minimize as much damage as possible.

Other great reads:

Increased Website and Email Hacking: what you need to know

The Problem with Saving Passwords on Your Computer

February 2, 2016

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