Yet another scumbag virus/trojan/worm coming around.

As usual, I will remind you to NEVER click on any email attachment. I repeat, NEVER click or double click on any email link, attachment or picture that you receive via email. It doesn't matter if you have an anti-virus program running or not. It doesn't matter if the email is from me or your little old great grandmother. The surest way to infect your computer is to click on an email attachment. Paranoia is not an understatement.

Why not? 'Cause an infected email will surely come from someone you know. That's how the virus/worm works. The virus randomly goes through an infected person's computer and address book, sticks a name in the "from" line, sticks another name in the "to" line, then mass mails itself to everyone and everything it can. You can be sure that whoever's name is in the "from" address is definitely not the one the infected email came from. So don't bother emailing that person to tell them that they're infected. Chances are, they aren't.

So you're thinking, what do I do? Well, that's easy. Just right click on the attachment, click on "save as", then save it to a folder on your harddrive somewhere. I use a folder named appropriately enough, "scan first". Then open up Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer), go to the folder where you saved the file, right click on the file, then click on "scan this file" or something like that. Almost every virus program lets you right click on a file and scan it. If it's clean, and it's not a program (a file that typically ends in .com or .bat or .exe), then you're probably safe and can open it.

If it's a program, I'd think twice about clicking on it and opening it. Why? There are scumbags out there that write little programs that are little trojans. They may do something innocuous, but at the same time, load some worm/virus or worse yet, a "key-logging" software on your system. You'll never know, and if it's a key logger program, it will record every single keystroke that you type, take screenshots of your screen, then quietly send your bank username and passwords to some scumbag somewhere in the world, where they will proceed to wreak havoc on your life - steal your identity.

If your virus definitions aren't up to date, then there's a possibility that a new worm/trojan/virus can infect your computer. So always keep your anti-virus program up to date.

I'll talk about phishing emails and what anti-spyware, anti-virus, anti-scumbag programs to load on your computer later.

That's all for now.