I was reading on the BBC today about a series of "spam trojan" attacks being launched at Blogger, the host of this blog. They somehow hijack blogs and create fake posts with links to virus infected files. As a note, I do not post videos on this blog or my other blog. I rarely post links either for that reason. You can Google the stuff if you need to find it.

Unfortunately, this is becoming a big problem. I suppose you've all gotten them in your email by now. Fake greeting cards, links that pretend to be from Youtube, and "fun" links that that only come up as IP addresses. It's wise not to click any links you find in your email unless you know the person and that you knew they were sending you something. These false links, sometimes appearing legitimate are boobytrapped with viruses. Police suspect that all this is the responsibility of a single group, though who this group is is unknown.

Internet vandals are a huge problem. Spam, viruses, spyware, rootkits there seems to be more of it than ever. Even legitimate websites can become easily infected without anybody knowing. You have to secure yourself. Get a decent anti-virus program. I recommend Avast!. It's a professional program but the home version is freeware and fully functional. It's one of the best anti-virus programs out there. If you must by a commercial anti-virus, Norton is probably the best widely available product. I don't recommend McAffee since I've seen problems with it in the past. I don't recommend Norton either actually since it uses more memory and processing power than should be necessary but it at least won't screw up your computer.
Secondly, secure yourself when on the net. When joining web forums or filling out forms that ask for your email, setup a free email account through Gmail, MSN, or Yahoo for that purpose. Don't share your home email. On web forums, always select to hide your email from the public. If other members need to speak with you personally, they can use the forum's built in PM feature. Remember to also keep your firewall active to prevent hacking attempts. Lastly, don't visit potentially hazardous sites such as porn sites and don't click on links willy nilly. P2P services such as Limewire are also a haven for viruses and other malware.