Shortly after posting a new entry to my blog last night, I checked back and grew excited. I had my first comment! I clicked to view the comment, and then clicked again on the comment itself, and then I was in for a long and scary night. After clicking on the comment, a warning came on my screen, which looked like it was from Windows, saying I had a virus on my computer and I should use their free software to delete it. Well, I was pretty much freaking out about having a virus on my computer, so I clicked on the link, which was named "XP Antivirus Protection." As it turned out, that was the actual virus.
Thankfully, my computer's antivirus software detected it immediately; however, it took nearly an hour before I was able to delete it from my computer--it had actually downloaded seven Trojan horses onto my computer. I guess my first clue that the link was a virus should have been the name "XP"--I don't even have Windows XP on my computer! I was up for a few hours last night scanning my computer several times and worrying about what information they were able to get from me, and I spent the better part of today changing all of my passwords.
Learn from my mistake--if you get a pop-up that says you have a virus, do not click on the link (especially if it's from XP Antivirus Protection)! Instead, use the anti-virus software you already subscribe to and determine whether or not you have a virus.
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1 comment:
Oh Michelle, that's too bad about the virus. I'm glad you got the word verification. That is supposed to help with that, I guess. Thanks for posting again!
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