Viruses: The Good and Bad
Today, I have some information about viruses, spyware and other malware. Listen up!
Did you know that the number of malware programs on the Web today is predicted to increase to one million this year? Yikes! The number of bad programs continues to grow at an alarming rate, but that’s actually some good news! That’s right, I said one million viruses is good news. Here’s why!
It seems as if the numbers are growing so quickly because fewer malware programs actually get the chance to infect a user’s PC. With antivirus, anti-malware and anti-rootkit software doing better and better as time goes by, the chance of a new threat ever reaching your computer is dwindling down. Because of that, people who write those nasty programs are being forced to write them faster and faster in order to keep up.
According to stats by Sophos, a leading threat researcher, 85 to 90 percent of malware families have a fix created almost immediately. Also, e-mails with viruses attached have less of a chance of getting through to your computer. In the past, one out of 40 attempts would successfully infect your computer. Now, that number is one out of 1,000. That is great news for all of us! That’s even more of a reason to keep your protection up to date. It just shows that we’re all doing much better at keeping viruses at bay. Let’s keep up the good work and give those virus makers a run for their money!
Until next time, stay safe out there, my friends!
~ Gary