Lets not get the gift of Virus, this Christmas!

Holiday season is on and everyone is enjoying it as well. In early days when email was not so popular, we all used paper greetings but many of us now depend on emails. We have used, send or shared some funny programs, messages through email and many desktop greeting cards as well. However, there are various files on the web which contain viruses, trojan horse etc. The worst thing is that these files look like a greeting card or some message, but behind the scene they download various malicious files and try to give the worst gift of this holiday season.

F-Secure blog has reported certain cases like this where a file called CHRISTMAS.EXE shows you some greeting and at the back downloads malicious files and makes your computer a zombie! Apart from that there is another backdoor called Christmas_Puzzle.exe and this displays a jigsaw puzzle but behind it is a backdoor and that on top of it uses Rootkits to hide its presence. There are some powerpoint files like Christmas+Blessing-4.ppt and what it does is that it puts two embedded programs using some vulnerability in powerpoint.

Now, you see that it is very easy to get infected from these viruses or any bad program, which may harm your computer. The bad people on the internet know, how they can easily fool people by using emotional greetings, it depends on us that whether we want to get fooled or not. Lets see how we can be safe from these bad tricks :

1. Never trust anyone : Make sure that you don’t trust anyone on the internet. Even, if you know the person or recognize their email address or while using the instant messenger. Because, it may be the case that there computer is infected from the virus or worm and which is spreading itself and they don’t even know about it. So, always scan the files for viruses or trojans.

2. Don’t forget to update the antivirus : Not just antivirus, but don’t forget to update your all security programs. Remember, precaution is better than cure.

3. Use Firewalls : I know that firewalls are sometimes problem themselves but that is mostly when you don’t know how to use them correctly. But it is always advisable to use a basic firewall atleast use the windows firewall!

4. Triple protect your computer : Follow this tutorial to find out how exactly you can protect your computer by using three type of securities or having a three layer protection for your computer. Using three layers will give better safety.

Enjoy the holiday season at it’s fullest and apply common sense to avoid those problems. I’m sure if I write Merry Christmas!!!! or Happy New Year!!! then I am able to convey my message. So, instead of using those stupid greetings, it is better that you use simple TEXT EMAILS (This is the best solution, of this problem).

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