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We also saw viruses embedding themselves directly
into websites, infecting any and all visitors, whether or not they've actually agreed to download something,
viruses embedded in Instant Messages, and viruses that might simply worm their way onto your computer just
because the virus maker happens to have your Internet proxy address handy.
It was during the big PC boom of the 90's that it became a possibility to take
advantage of people with a computer virus, and not just to slow their computers down. Where previous viruses had
been done as jokes or as experiments, now, with people filing their taxes online or using PayPal to purchase items
on eBay, it became easy to use viruses to take credit card numbers, to commit fraud and identity theft, and to
steal information to sell to spam marketers.
Likewise, at this point, it became clear that computer viruses were a serious
problem, and more and more companies started putting out anti-virus software. And, of course, as the anti-virus
companies started fighting back, the virus programmers had to step up their game in order to work around the
software. As the viruses became more sophisticated, so, too, did the anti-virus software, and so on and so on. And
this brings us to where we are today.
Why People Make
Viruses
If you've never been a victim of identity theft, it may seem that the
only reason viruses exist is to slow your computer down and to force you to send it in for repairs. As such, you
may wonder who has the time to sit around coming up with ways to mess with people like that.
Well, the truth is that there's a lot of money in creating computer viruses. Again,
today's virus makers are not just trying to be funny and they're not just experimenting. They want
money.
The people who create viruses are not just hobbyists; they're professionals (or
professional criminals, if you will). Viruses aren't just there to slow your computer down; they are there to steal
information from you. They will either take your financial information and steal your money directly or they will
steal your personal information, sell it to spam companies, and make some money that way.
Virus programmers are dedicated and skilled at what they do, and they don't do it for
free. They want money, yours or someone else's, and most of them make a good living doing it.
True, there are some practical-joker virus makers out there, but the vast majority of
the thousands upon thousands of viruses, worms, Trojans, and malware bots we have today are designed only to take
information from you.
That viruses are bad for your computer, that they slow your PC to a snail's crawl, is
merely a side effect. In fact, they are even being designed these days to take up less of your computer's RAM, so
you may even be infected without any slowdown whatsoever.
The benefit this offers the virus makers is that
you might never know you're infected in the first place, and if you don't know that you're infected, then you
will be less likely to do something about it.
So, again, most of the people out there programming viruses are not doing it as a
hobby, but as a career.
They take to it with all of the seriousness and
misguided work ethic as you would take to your own career. The difference is that their chosen line of work
is illegal and malevolent.
They want to take advantage of you, they want your information, and if they can get
it, they want your money, and that is the only reason there are so many viruses out
there.
Protecting your Computer
It should be understood that merely getting rid of viruses when they
infect your computer... isn't really the best way of going about protecting yourself from virus
infection.
Of course, you want to run a scan regularly to make sure that you're clean, but more
importantly, you need to make sure you're actually protected in the first place. If you only scan your computer
when it starts slowing down, then you're only dealing with the problem after it happens.
When the home computer market really started to take off in the mid-1990s, many users
actually wound up replacing their computers when they started to slow down thanks to virus infections. This was
before these new PC users really knew what viruses were, as they just assumed that a two-year-old computer running
at a snail's crawl was just "showing its age." Really, this is comparable to trading your car in when all it needed
was an oil change.
Carrying this analogy a little further, installing a full security system onto your
computer is comparable to carrying full insurance on your car... as opposed to waiting until you're in an accident
and then worrying about how you’re going to pay for the damage.
In other words, it’s simply not the sort of thing
you can afford to neglect.
At this very moment, there are viruses trying to
get into your computer, whether it’s through websites, through e-mail, through IM messages, or through an
open Wi-Fi connection. If you are connected to the Internet, then you are literally under assault day and
night from the virus makers.
It is not even a matter of “you will probably get
infected if you don’t protect yourself.” Rather, you will become infected if you don’t protect yourself. In fact, there may be some viruses on
your computer right now, depending on the last time you ran a scan.
So, get some security software and scan your
computer regularly, at least once a week, with a “search and destroy” anti-virus
program.
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