Safety Alert Orillia Future Tech Computer Services

This is a special safety alert from Future Tech Computer Services:

This year our shop has been swamped with infected computers. The severity of infections has escalated resulting in severe consequences for many of our clients. Free Antivirus users are at greater risk because they lack adequate "real time" protection. A complete loss of data for one of our clients was devastating. Another had each byte of disk space occupied by useless files which prevented the system from running. All executable files were crippled as well. Sometimes the threat removal is simple if caught early. A virus removal fee is usually around $69.00. However, this cost can go up significantly if the system is so badly damaged that reinstallation is required. Many people do not back up their important documents and pictures. Now they have lost control of their systems and are unable to backup so we must do it for them. It takes a bit of time to accomplish this task. Reformatting a hard drive is the only way to get rid of some very stubborn infections. The best way to prevent the disruption and expense caused by these infections is to prevent them in the first place and to ensure your data is backed up regularly. It sounds logical but is all too negected. Most people think that such bad things will not happen to them and that their hardware will last forever.

Most free Antivirus programs are quite good at finding infections after they have occurred. However, most do not prevent infections as they happen in "real time". In this day and age everyone seems to want free stuff. We want to download free music and movies and pirated software. Why pay $600 for MS Office when you can get it for $50? But this type of downloading can cost you in the long run. Most likely it will and then your free stuff is not really free anymore. Going to any site with free software that seems too good to be true has risks associated with it. Many of you do not know about emerging threats such as the "click-by" Trojans, infected logon scripts that can hijack a legitimate sites login procedure. There are so many malicious threats that await the unwary web browser. They are gaining entry into computers because they can manipulate Java and Flash code on a webpage.If your Java, Flash, Adobe Reader or operating system does not have the latest security patches then you are at risk. It used to be that Java updates occured very seldom - a few times per year. Now updates are coming weekly it seems. Writing malicious code for a company is big business now and attracts many people who get good pay for finding ways to invade your computer. It is no longer just a subculture's quest but a lucrative business.

You must become knowledgable in order to protect yourself and your data.

Very few of our clients know how their computers got infected. Unsafe browser settings, unpatched systems, turned off firewalls, visiting unsafe sites, using social networks, sharing files and lack of real time protection will lead to computer infections. We recommend that you visit some of the websites we suggest here. The "Get Safe Online" site is doing a fantastic job of presenting current threats and what you can do to help yourself. This website is easy to read, well planned and has very helpful links to more pages with more information. We know you will find the site as helpful as we have and encourage you all to take the time to protect yourself before you get caught by some of these "online pirates".