Computer Viruses
Each day in the Milford NH area another several dozen newly infected PCs, laptops, notebooks and tablets pick up one or more computer viruses. Before turning to a virus removal service, it's important to understand the nature and cause of computer viruses in the first place.

Introduction And Basics
Today, we will talk about different ways a computer system in the general Nashua NH area can become infected with viruses, spyware and other malware in general. We will go over a list which contains a number of these infection methods, and ways of dealing with them in order to protect your data and stay safe online. 

It is no secret or surprise that a lot of PC users consider viruses, spyware, adware, worms, Trojans, malware and others as the same thing. It is true that all of these can and most probably will harm your system, however, not all of them behave in the same way.

Worms, viruses, Trojans and bots all share the same class of software named malware, which is short for malicious software. Malicious software stands for software or code which has been specifically designed and developed in order to disrupt, damage, steal or inflict other types of illegitimate actions towards your data, hosts or networks. 

Of course, there are dozens if not hundreds of ways this class of software can infect your system and execute themselves. It can infect computers by coming along with other programs or by being attached as macros to certain types of files which you download from the internet. 

Others can be installed into your system by exploiting a common vulnerability of an operating system, network device or other types of software. For example, a security hole in an internet browser which only requires the user to visit a certain website in order to become infected. However, most infections occur as a result of some action from the user, for example, opening an e-mail attachment or downloading files from insecure, unreliable sources from the Internet.

As mentioned before, different types of these files, codes and software will behave in a different way. Anything from causing minor difficulties such as opening browser pop-up ads, all the way to stealing your confidential information, getting access to your bank accounts, destroying your stored data or even entirely disabling whole systems and networks. Malware cannot ever damage your physical hardware of the system or the network equipment, but it surely can disrupt and damage data and software it finds on the system and the equipment. 

It is highly recommended that the user takes great care of his or hers browsing habits, and of the way they behave online in general. Read on to learn more about the most common ways your computer can get infected and what habits you should avoid.

Most Common Ways Of Getting Infected in Milford NH
Take a look at the list below which shows the most common ways a system can get infected, reasons why it happens and how to minimize the chances this happens to you today.

· Browsing the Internet with JavaScript enabled
Developers of malware are most likely to host these dangerous, malicious files on the web. Some will even keep these files constantly updated by the means of automated tools - all in an attempt to bypass your up-to-date security software and features. Make no mistake, your choice of Internet browsers plays no significant role here, it is strongly recommended that you disable JavaScript on all websites, besides of the reputable ones, and those websites you know you can trust.

· Following unsolicited e-mail links
Dangerous, malicious or fraudulent links in emails and online are surely a significant vector for getting infected both by malware and attacks which are a result of social engineering. If you know what to stay away from, it is easy to detect potentially malicious or fraudulent links by reading email in plain text. The best way to proceed here and make sure you stay safe - is to completely avoid following and clicking on links in emails or online which are received unexpectedly. Simply do not follow or click on suspicious links, especially if you do not know the sender.

· Following pop-ups which claim your system needs to be fixed
This type of malware is commonly called scareware, and that is because these will typically generate random pop-ups providing you with fake alert messages - all in an attempt to trick you into installing fake safety tools or even purchasing security licenses, which can only harm you. These installations will most likely only damage your system, block access to real security tools you may have, they will embed themselves deeply into your system and in a best case scenario - make your system run much slowly, buggy and glitchy. These will most commonly pop-up and call themselves with titles such as a "System Fix", "System Cleaners", "Anty-Spy Checks" and similar.

· Logging into accounts from email, IM and social network links
It is imperative that you remember this: Never, ever log-in to your accounts as a result of being redirected there by a link you received via email, instant messaging programs, social networks such as Facebook and any other sources. If you receive a link and it kindly suggests you to log-in to for example, your Facebook account - close this tab immediately and only log-in from links you normally use or by using bookmarks to open links you know are safe to log-in from.

· Failing to protect yourself, not using any security software
What many users fail to understand (and are probably infected as a result) is that most malware today is delivered silently. It can happen while browsing the Internet while these malware codes exploit vulnerabilities in the software you use, or the websites you visit. It is strongly recommended that you acquire antivirus (AW) software protection and keep it up-to-date. It is simply not enough to "be smart" anymore and rely solely on your intelligence to avoid being infected. One of the most recommended antivirus software is Avast! AW, especially because it is free, used by over 200 million people, and because it provides all basic, standard protection shields, including e-mail protection, software and web shields, and is available for mobile users as well.

· Getting tricked by sad stories and get-rick-quick promises
We all know how the Internet makes it easy for us today to pursuit legitimate services and how easy to use it is in general. Unfortunately, this also gives the scammers a hand into tricking you into installing their malicious software. Con artists, scammers and other types of online attackers often succeed with their malicious bidding via showing you advertisements which most commonly consist of promising you a how-to guides into getting rich quickly, and by serving you sad sounding stories in order to get you to provide sensitive, personal information or even financial data. Here, it comes mostly to your common sense practices in order to stay safe. 

Conclusion
As you have discovered, there are plenty of ways an attacker can get your system infected, be it to slow down your computer and encourage you to buy "cleaning" software, or to simply harm you in a way of stealing personal and financial data. 

Whatever your online practices may be, it is important to remember that while acquiring any software, from programs and utilities to games, updates, patches and demos, be sure to download these from reliable sources. Not only that, be sure to scan this with your antivirus programs and have your OS firewall enabled at all time. 

One other important thing to remember is that, even when installing legitimate software, these may also prompt you to install additional software besides their (often come as pre-checked boxes in the installation process) - be sure to un-check these and only install what you originally intended to.