The first and most important thing is to have an Antivirus with the latest virus database, There are many options out there free and paid, personally I use Avast and Microsoft Security Essentials which are both free and are work very effectively together, but whatever you pick is entirely up to you.
Secondly is to know how to spot and avoid the annoying dangers, there are many ways to tell but I'm going to show you a few that I
know.
Viruses (We all know what these are
)You may all be thinking my Antivirus will pick this up, Yes it may but what if i doesn't. Here's a way to spot viruses even before you install them. Here is the same program but one has a virus in it, the one on the right with no information and bigger file size most likely has a virus or something wrong with it. The one on the left downloaded from the official website has information and a smaller file size. Lets compare them
Let see what happens once scanned.
But if the Keygen, Crack, Serial or whatever used to make the program "Full" is OK, Just head over to the official site of the program and download it then apply the crack.
Phishing (Not a form of virus but steals passwords and information)
There are two types of Phishing, Program phishing and link phishing.
Link Phishing looks like this: http://www.downloadfileRapidshare.com
This is not a real phisher but my point stays the same, Never go to a site which doesn't have the proper name of the download provider, In this case it should be www.rapidshare.com. Even if it looks like the proper site it most likely isn't and is trying to steal information from you.
Program Phishing usually named e.g. Rapidshare account Hacker or Megaupload premium link generator, Which say "type your Username and Password here and then your victim or link to file" and obviously what do you thinks going to happen next, OMG!! WHY ISN'T THIS THING WORKING, it isn't working cause you've just gotten your account stolen. Even though these are usually picked up by your antivirus, be aware that there around and steer clear of them.
Other Annoying Things (Such as Survey Sites, Passworded Archives and more)
Survey Sites are sites (such as www.~~~~ Please report me ~~~~.org) where you have to complete a survey to get the the file but even after doing the survey the file still isn't unlocked, that's cause you cant actually get the file but instead by doing the survey you make money for the people hosting the apparent file.
Passworded Archives are file that you need to extract in order to get the files but instead once you go to extract it, it either asks for a password of which wasn't given in the post OR It provides you with another Archive and a text document or html saying that you have to go to another site to get the password. If you ever find one of these delete them and see if you can find another.
Silent Installers not always bad but be very careful when using these as they may contain viruses and install them "Silently".
Remember if you ever come across and of these things please do the right thing and Report them by clicking the report button (
).And Remember if you need any help and advice please feel free to PM any of our staff here and they'll be happy to help.
Also if you have anything to add just put it in the comments section and ill add it in
