Why do idiots put viruses out?

Exemplar

giraffe69 wrote: »

If you have twice got a virus that has led to you reformatting then it does suggest AVG is not doing a great job.

Or you didn't heed the warning...

paddyrg

In the olden days, viruses were either a technical challenge or just for fun. Now they're huge business, their job is to either-
*track your every move to get your personal info
*hijack your browser session to abuse online banking or divert your searches through paid engines
*hold you to ransom
*add you to a botnet so your PC can send spam/partake in illegal activities on behalf of the virus gang.

That's most of the reasons.

However, 2 days is short - either you're extremely unlucky, not applying patches, or reinstalling the problem, either from web sites or your backups. (for reference, my last virus investigation was 4years ago, when I wasn't passing close attention at 3am once!

Lucero_2

Lol, AVG. This isn't 2004 (when AVG was last actually good). MSE is all you need, and common sense when browsing. I haven't had a virus in, well, years

demystified

Yeah, well, I got caught out last week. A friend regularly sends attachments and links to fun stuff.

Well someone on my friends list got infected and then I got infected with the darn thing - still not entirely sure how, it wasn't an .exe or anything that obvious, in fact I was on my Linux box at the time so it must have been a script of some kind. Sent copies of itself to everyone on my contacts list.

Damn nuisance, and I count myself pretty computer literate.

almillar

Why don't the courts treat these f-ing prats as terrorists and send them to be shot and instead hand out suspended sentences for the the prats to go again!

Because they can't find them would be a good starter answer.
Should we also send the people who SPREAD the viruses to be shot? That could include your friend if they are already infected, as they could be spreading it via their email, as post #15 shows.
In the same way as you don't walk down the street holding your wallet open in the air, you do need to take precautions online...

cinderfella

Keep AVG free 2013. Cnet have it reviewed as 5* & described as 'spectacular'.
I went through a number of anti virus products some years ago & could not wait to get back to AVG.
Running windows means running a couple of cleaner products each week without missing a week. SAS antispyware is very good.
There is a lot to be said for running an Ipad for web browsing (no virus risks) & keeping your computer safe from the web.:beer:

esuhl

aardvaak wrote: »

Why do idiots put viruses out?

Because they don't keep their antivirus up-to-date, they open dodgy attachments or in some other way fail to secure their computer.

The people who create viruses and other malware are rarely idiots themselves. If they were, they wouldn't be able to make such easy money from other people's lack of know-how.

To be honest, I think we should all blame Microsoft here. If Windows OSes had been designed with security in mind (as opposed to a retrofit "add on"), Windows wouldn't be so insecure...

waddler_8

esuhl wrote: »

To be honest, I think we should all blame Microsoft here. If Windows OSes had been designed with security in mind (as opposed to a retrofit "add on"), Windows wouldn't be so insecure...

If Windows didn't exist would the world would be malware free?