How to Avoid Malware from Popups and Emails
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
How to Avoid Malware from Popups and Emails
As today menacing threats to our computers are always getting more and more sophisticated often disguising their malware downloads using deceiving look alike pop-ups of legitimate companies. And you bet sometimes it is often very difficult to tell which ones are truly legit or not.
The safest thing you can do if you are paranoid about this is to not trust any of those popup updates at all. And have your software set to not automatically do update, but updating them manually yourself by checking the software manufacture Websites for updates and downloading it from them. While this is a lot more work on your end, it definitely cuts down the chances of being deceived with malware.
However, if the manual work doesn't seem like that is your cup of tea, just be very, very careful and if you have any suspicions- just don't click it at all! One particular bit of advice I must point out is to never click on any pop-ups you do not trust or are uncertain about. Don't click the "X" to try to close the popup. There are malware tricks that use that to install their garbage as well as clicking anywhere else on the popup.
Never ever, ever follow a link from an email you've received to update a product. If there is an update available, you should be able to find it by using the programs internal update feature. If you can't find it, try the program's web site. You'd be surprised how many fake update notifications people receive through email. If you're looking at new products and you trust the site (always check the URL address), that's okay. If you're uncertain, Delete the email. If there truly is a problem, you'll find out soon enough. In most cases, they're just trying to sell you something new.
The safest thing you can do if you are paranoid about this is to not trust any of those popup updates at all. And have your software set to not automatically do update, but updating them manually yourself by checking the software manufacture Websites for updates and downloading it from them. While this is a lot more work on your end, it definitely cuts down the chances of being deceived with malware.
However, if the manual work doesn't seem like that is your cup of tea, just be very, very careful and if you have any suspicions- just don't click it at all! One particular bit of advice I must point out is to never click on any pop-ups you do not trust or are uncertain about. Don't click the "X" to try to close the popup. There are malware tricks that use that to install their garbage as well as clicking anywhere else on the popup.
Never ever, ever follow a link from an email you've received to update a product. If there is an update available, you should be able to find it by using the programs internal update feature. If you can't find it, try the program's web site. You'd be surprised how many fake update notifications people receive through email. If you're looking at new products and you trust the site (always check the URL address), that's okay. If you're uncertain, Delete the email. If there truly is a problem, you'll find out soon enough. In most cases, they're just trying to sell you something new.