Accidental installations are kind of sneaky and not good for your computer and your health.  It's easy for companies to fool you into accidentally  download them on your computer so you have to pay attention when you update or download programs to to your computer.  Here is how they get on your computer; an update or a download of some sort comes up and usually it’s mandatory.  For this example we’ll use Java.  We’ve all seen the little orange box come up saying there’s an update available.  Typically these kinds of software’s (Java, Adobe, and Microsoft) are all trusted hosts but some sneaky softwares will tag along onto these trusted sites in the form of check boxes.

Notice the check box that reads: “Yes...”

Another way to accidentally install something is thing is when you go out looking for downloads.  A good example is something you may have seen someone use: Daemon tools.  The download page is somewhat tricky.  Look at this picture.  

Notice the black arrow where the actual download link is, and the big green download is the evil doer.  Notice in the red box, the word ADVERTISEMENT.  They don’t do a good job at differentiating between the two, but why should they? Every time someone clicks that link, the host site makes money. Can you blame them?

The moral of the story is to be careful of what you click on. Make sure there are no hidden chock boxes and read download pages carefully.  If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email the any member of the tech team.

Today I would like to take a few minutes of your time to go over some very important information.  As of late, we have been experiencing some virus issues that seem to root from malicious strikes on users in the form of Windows notifications.  These notifications seem legitimate, and pose as a real issue that your computer is trying to overcome.  They come from emails, websites, advertisements on websites, really anywhere.  They are smart too, they mask themselves so that the average user cannot distinguish a true Windows error message from the virus/malware.  In no way are we pointing fingers, we just want to share some knowledge.

Let’s go over a brief description of what these things are;

Malware: Software that is intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems

Virus: Software program capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of causing great harm to files or other programs on the same system.

The key terms here are in bold, disabling a computer will stop the user from being productive. A virus that reproduces itself infects multiple files, that can then be spread to other machines via email, USB Flash drives, etc. Both of these are not good for the health of the computer, the network, the user, or anyone attempting to fix it.

Sometimes you may get a small pop up in the bottom right of your screen, typically when you plug something new into your computer, like a flash drive or a new cd. It will be a tiny white box with a red top on it that asks if you want to scan the new device, typically you can ignore it.  It’s just Vexira being cautious.  This should be the ONLY THING you ever get prompted about in terms of anti-virus. 

Windows pop ups that people see from time to time claiming there is a threat to their data or files or anything of that nature that may be compromised ARE NOT REAL.

These come from the internet and are the primary source of malicious software attacks. They are evil, and they may look like this;

Please notice some key giveaway’s that this is false. There is no title of the error message in the top left corner of the blue bar. “Your PC is at risk of a virus AND malware attack.”  A true error will give you the EXACT problem followed by an error code at the bottom.  “Your system requires immediate check!” No true error message will say check, nor will it have an exclamation point.  The dead giveaway is “quick and free”.  Nothing is free, that’s life.

Upon seeing ANY message that even remotely resembles this please press the red X at the top, and close out. Upon doing so it may prompt you with another scam message, this is how you can be 110% certain that these messages are malicious.  Another way to close this is to go to the bottom of your screen, on that start panel, and RIGHT CLICK on the message and go to close. This screen capture is off my computer, my start panel is on the left side of my screen, and I’m running Windows 7, however it works EXACTLY the same way on your computer.

This information is invaluable to know, because it will not only help prevent horrific virus infections on our beloved BDSD Network but it will also help you as a computer user be more aware of malicious software when you are at home using your own computers.        

If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to discuss this further please feel free to email Anthony or I and we would be happy to go over this in more detail.  Also, if you do manage to get what you may think is a Virus or any form of malware attack on your computer please put in a ticket so we can address it accordingly.

Thank you for your time.