malware Archives - Page 2 of 27

This simple tip can help protect your computer from malware

Posted on September 1, 2025

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Unfortunately, in the Internet age, viruses and other forms of malware tend to spread like wildfires, and it’s getting harder by the day to keep your devices from getting infected by them.

That’s why it’s important to install a high quality antivirus program on your Windows computer, keep it updated at all times and perform a couple of on-demand malware scans on a regular basis.

Macs aren’t as likely to get infected with malware as Windows machines, but it’s happening more all the time. And when it does the results can be catastrophic, which is why I recommend that Mac users install Malwarebytes on their machines.

With all of the above being said, a little due diligence can go a long way towards keeping your machines safe as well. [Read more…]

Understanding the impact of ransomware attacks

Posted on August 18, 2025

Introduction

Over the past decade, ransomware has evolved from a niche cybercrime tactic into one of the most dangerous and costly threats in the digital landscape.

Initially, these attacks targeted individual users for small sums, but they have since scaled into highly organized operations that cripple global businesses, hospitals, schools, and even government agencies. [Read more…]

Real-Time vs. On-Demand: Antivirus protection explained

Posted on August 16, 2025

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I’ve been receiving questions from folks who are confused about the terms Real-Time and On-Demand in regards to antivirus protection, so I thought it might be helpful to explain the difference between them here.

Both real-time and on-demand antivirus protection are important for keeping your computer free of viruses and other forms of malware, but while they are closely-related, they operate in very different ways. [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I tell if my computer has a virus?

Posted on July 21, 2025

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Question from Geneva: I keep reading about all the computer viruses going around and how they can cause you a bunch of problems.

I’m a complete dummy when it comes to this stuff, Rick. How can I find out if my computer is infected? [Read more…]

How to ask for a second opinion after a clean virus scan (and why you should)

Posted on July 16, 2025

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Over the years I’ve worked on lots of computers that exhibited all the classic signs of a malware infection.

And as you might expect, many of the owners of those machines insisted that the problem couldn’t possibly be malware because they regularly scan their systems with antivirus programs.

But when I ran my own scans on those systems, I often discovered that they were indeed infected, some of them with dozens of viruses, spyware objects, malicious toolbars and other digital nasties.

How could that be? [Read more…]