malware Archives - Page 4 of 27

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…]

Scam alert: Why you should cancel all of your unused email accounts

Posted on July 14, 2025

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Email is a wonderful tool that allows us to correspond with family members, friends and associates all around the world in just a matter of moments.

Gone are the days of having to write a letter, address an envelope, buy a stamp and send it on its merry way through the postal system with no guarantee that the recipient will receive it in a timely fashion, if at all.

But as the massive Yahoo hack reminded us, all is not perfect in the world of email. [Read more…]

Scam alert: Beware this dangerous ‘DocuSign’ email scam

Posted on April 22, 2025

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As you probably know by now, scammers love using the Internet to perpetrate frauds and trick innocent people into doing things that are harmful to their devices and/or their financial lives.

Some scams come and go, but others seem to hang around forever while occasionally changing up the tricks they use from time to time to keep us all off guard.

One such persistent scam targets folks who use the popular DocuSign “online agreement” service.

[Read more…]

Q&A: Is it safe to completely disable Windows updates?

Posted on April 6, 2025

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Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Michael: I recently bought a new desktop computer to replace the one I’ve been using for the past six years.

It seems like the updates I’ve been installing on this new machine have all been filled with bugs because almost every time I install them something goes wrong.

The last time it happened my nephew had to completely reinstall Windows for me.

I’d like to completely disable the installation of updates on the new PC. Is it safe to do that? [Read more…]

Are all of your browser extensions and mobile apps still safe to use?

Posted on March 31, 2025

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I have always recommended downloading browser extensions and mobile apps only from the official web and app stores provided by Google, Apple and Mozilla.

While some nasties do occasionally slip through, they all do their best to ensure that the extensions and apps they allow into their repositories are safe and malware-free.

I still recommend that you limit your downloads to those official repositories, but I need to tell you about a disturbing trend that’s taking place right now. [Read more…]