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The Truth About Viruses

Contrary to what so many people believe, it is actually very easy to avoid getting a virus infection on your computer. The majority of the time, whether or not you get a virus depends entirely upon how responsible you are in your surfing and downloading habits. See the chart below for the true and false methods regarding getting a virus.

TRUE
FALSE
Email Attachments
Yes, you can get a virus from an email attachment, if it contains an exexcutable file, which is easily avoided if you scan all attachments before opening them.

MP3 & Audio Files
Yes, you can get a virus from an MP3 (the old loveletter virus comes to mind), but again, is easily avoided if you scan all downloaded MP3's before running them (double clicking or executing).

Video Files
Yes, you can get a virus from a video file, but again, is easily avoided if you scan all downloaded files before running them (double clicking or executing).

Image Formats
It is absolutely impossible to get a virus from an image (jpg, gif, png, bmp, etc) because it does not contain an exe (executable file).

Friend Requests
You can not get a virus from accepting a friend request from any particular user on Myspace, Facebook, etc. These warnings are often sent out and are misleading. If that particular friend sends you a mysterious link and you actually click it, then you may be subject to a virus infection, but you can NOT simply get your computer infected from a friend request.

TRUE & FALSE

Webpages
The answer to whether or not you can get a virus infection simply by viewing a page relies on both categories, true and false. No, you can't get a virus simply by visiting the page if you're using a quality virus detection program and have installed the windows updates needed up to that point.

However, if you choose not to install updates, then yes, it is possible for software to add itself to your machine without you granting it permission. For this reason, I would also strongly recommend using the Firefox browser (much more secure than Microsoft's Internet Explorer, on top of installing all security updates from Microsoft.

It goes without saying that you should never agree to install any software without researching it first.

There are very simple rules to follow to avoid infecting your system with a potentially serious virus.

1. Scan everything. It doesn't matter if it's a music file, video file or text file. Scan it before running it.

2. Run a quality virus detection program, like AVG, and update it often.

3. Don't open email attachments unless you know the sender and know what they're sending.

4. Install all windows security updates.