Your computer is like a car, not a TV

Backup your data -- Backup your data – Backup your data

• What is Malware?
  • Viruses, Worms , Spyware, Adware and Rootkit
  • Spyware can record everything you do on your computer
  • Adware tracks where you go on the Internet
  • Rootkit is a program used to hide malware
• Virus and worm propagation … what is the difference?
  • Worms are self replicating – most do not require human interaction. They take advantage of unpatched vulnerabilities
  • Viruses usually require some human interaction such as opening an email with a virus or clicking ‘OK’ on a popup box
• How do you get it?
  • Malicious websites
  • Popup ads
  • Viruses sitting in your email inbox
  • Peer to peer file sharing programs like Limewire
• How do you know you have it?
  • You can view all the processes running on your computer with Windows Task Manager. (ctrl + alt + del ) Google any suspicious programs running to find out what it does.
  • Computer seems slow or unresponsive
  • People telling you that you are sending them email with viruses
• How do you get rid of it?
  • Run an active virus scan with an up to date virus program
  • Run an active spyware scan with up to date spyware program
  • Wipe the machine and reload everything
• Prevention
  • Backup your data -- Backup your data
  • Visit the Windows Update website to update and patch your Operating System (Windows) (Start --> all programs --> Windows update)
  • Set Automatic Updates to download and install Operating System patches. (right click ‘my computer’--> properties)
  • Be sure to update programs on your computer like Office, Word perfect, etc. Available from the software maker. Currently MS Office update is located at: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdate/default.aspx
  • Use broadband to connect to the Internet. Do not use dialup
  • Anti-Virus protection programs (available for free online)
  • Update the Anti-virus program
  • Do not open email from people that you don’t know and some that you do know
  • Virus scan your email
  • Spyware protection programs (available for free online)
  • Be careful when on some web sites. The popup ads can contain malware. Read the popup before clicking
  • Update the Spyware program

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