It’s a hard world online in 2014. There was a time when all you needed to be safe online was a good antivirus program. Those days are now gone because new viruses come out too fast for security vendors like Symantec to keep up with. The 100% best way to keep yourself virus-free is to have good habits:
1. Stay away from the wrong websites. Many links to images, particularly the ones with nudity in them, will infect your PC. Some websites will automatically play code that will infect your machine as soon as you open the page in your browser so be careful.
2. Make sure that the Windows or Mac user account you do your day to day surfing in does NOT have admin rights. This will help limit the spread of a virus if you do happen to stumble across anything malicious.
3. Be wary of e-mails that contain web links or attachments that you weren’t expecting. If it’s from a friend call them and ask if they meant to send it to you. If it’s from a stranger then delete the message.
4. Keep your Operating System, Antivirus Program, and all your web plug-ins updated. If you have an agreement with Univista that includes Limited or Comprehensive Desktop Support then we do most of this for you already.
5. DO NOT CLICK ON OR IN ANY POPUP WINDOW THAT YOU ARE NOT EXPECTING! Clicking in or on the popup may give the virus permission to install on your PC and then you’re in for a potentially expensive recovery. Instead bring up your Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DELETE keys and then select Task Manager) in Windows or your Task Manager (APPLE-OPTION-ESC) on your Mac and then end your web browser processes until you see the popup disappear.
Unfortunately, even with the best habits you will never be 100% safe because the bad guys are busy every day creating viruses like CRYPTOWARE.
CRYPTOWARE is the latest in ransom ware technology. It encrypts the files on your computer, asking you to pay a ransom to have the files decrypted. To learn more specifics please see: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2014-061923-2824-99.
Once infected, your files are held hostage until you pay a ransom. The only way to recover your files is to restore them from backup.
Rest assured that we are doing our best to keep you from getting infected. We are in the process of testing measures to prevent CRYPTOWARE and other viruses like it from infecting you. If you are our customer, we will be rolling it out to you very shortly.
As always, please do not hesitate to call us at 866-832-6209. We’re here to help you with any questions or concerns you may have.