Jumat, 05 Desember 2014

Downloading Software: Is It Safe?

By Frankline Bell


Long ago, way back in the 1980s and 1990s, if you wanted something on your computer, you had to buy a program and download it yourself onto the computer. These days, we can simply download most of what we need straight from the internet. While this is amazing, in some cases when we download a song or a game or software, we also are downloading malware. You can protect yourself from malicious downloads by following a few of these security questions.

In general, there are plenty of well-known trustworthy sources out there where you can download and feel pretty secure about it. For instance, you probably are pretty safe downloading a new song from iTunes or an e-book from the Kindle store at Amazon. Companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Google and other big names typically are safe, but there are plenty of other sources of downloads that are much more dubious. If you are downloading a free game from a source you don't know, you also might be downloading a "free" computer virus. If you don't know the source, do research about it prior to the download.

When you download a file, it will have an extension on the end of it. For instance, you might download a file that says computer.exe. This ".exe" is a file extension, and it often is attached to malicious software programs. Other extensions such as bat, pif, doc and scr might also be dangerous to download.

You might not realize it, but when you receive links in emails from friends or associates, these could potentially contain a virus or other malware. Often they are disguised as links to a funny video or an outrageous news story. It might appear to come from a trustworthy source, such as major news organization. However, if you hover over the link (without clicking on it) and look at the bottom of your browser screen, you will see its true location. What looks like it came from CNN or YouTube might come from a malicious site that is trying to hack into your PC.

Often when we are searching for something, such as a specific song or maybe a movie to download, we find a site offering the item for free. Copyrighted items, such as books, movies, music and games rarely are free and often these sites are offering illegal, pirated downloads. Not only are you breaking the law when you download illegally, often these sites are simply scamming you and what you are really downloading is malware. Never download from an untrusted site and if the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is fraudulent.

Of course, even if you are careful, malware can happen and removing it is definitely time-consuming. It's typically much easier to just call a company such as GeeksAKnockin' and have them scan your computer and remove any malware or viruses. If you need Portland computer repair, Gresham computer repair or Hillsboro computer repair, give them a call and they can remove the malware, improve your overall security and even speed up your PC.




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