Infected Websites

I am not much for the dirty websites but my anti virus and spy ware notifications seem to find a surprising number of the news, information, and reference type websites having viruses of one kind or another.

While doing general searches for environmental studies and technical study sites or things relative to the big news items like the Toyota gas peddle and brakes issues are where I get immediate notifications of worms, spy ware, and other bad stuff.

A few times links on this site have had my computer tell me about viruses it intercepted as well.

am not much for the dirty websites I didn't mean porn websites. By "dirty", I meant sites that were infected by viruses and worms.

I'll update this entry's title, Ron, so that the meaning is clear.

To answer your question, gaming web sites are some of the worst!

The point of any trap is to not be noticed before its too late. So trying to avoid a computer virus by not visiting certain sites is like trying to avoid the plague during the dark ages by only going to church services. We all need to have anti-virus software on our machines, particularly when using Windows®. If your real interest is about the latest computer virus news check out http://www.viruslist.com/

Porn sights and file sharing like Kaza . But with out a doubt any porn sight is deadly.

But if you see some family member on it the shock , stroke, or heart attack could prove fatal.

Is fatal more severe than deadly?

Anything likely to draw a large crowd- music downloads, video (YouTube is suspect in my mind) and movie downloads, porn sites, anything that has been referred in an e-mail (especially from someone you don't know, but watch out even for those references from people you do know...). Things that focus on celebrities, pets, etc.

I found quite surprising the children's sites and their games etc. were as infested as porn sites are claimed to be.

Of course hacker cafes are a no brainer as many govt sites; write your congressman etc..

All the peer to peer networks...

If getting mudded is bothersome don't hangout at the puddle...

Yes, I recall a time when some laptops could be infected through the WiFi drivers, just by turning the power on! Its really not paranoia to be applying protection to the computers software.

I find a lot of viruses and Trojans on "free Windows software" websites, and obscure antivirus websites.

A lot of sites are becoming targets for malware of all types, particularly bot net worms as these are increasing in value on the black market. Any site is a potential risk. There is new software that looks to see if the website is compromised when you connect. I think AVG may have one of those. I run Symantic, but it's not 100%. I keep everything like windows, IE, Adobe, etc updated. If you keep your security levels high, that helps too. I use Malware Bytes pretty regularly as it will find things that symantic doesn't. If malware bytes won't run, I use things like Combo Fix.

I seem to fix more machines that instant message and go to coupon sites a lot. Facebook, My Space, Utube turn up frequently also.

Firefox running under Ubuntu has some pretty good site evaluation software built in- every once in a while, I get this big pop-up warning me that a particular site might be dangerous, and suggesting I get the h**l out of there. I don't know for sure if Firefox under Windows would have similar security features, but I believe it does...

If you are not fully prepared, just clicking on a link can infect your machine. I am a big fan of on-the-fly website evaluations, like Web Of Trust (WOT). Every link you can click on is color coded.
Here are the precautions I follow:
I install all available operating system service packs, security and all application software security updates.
I use Linux (Ubuntu, SuSE) or BSD.
When I must use Windows, it is XP or higher, and:
...I never browse the web with Windows administrator privileges!
...I uninstall Internet Explorer 6+7. I use Firefox, Chrome, Opera or, when necessary, I use IE8+.
...I Permit Active-X one site at a time, and reluctantly.
...I Use an application-aware firewall.
...I Require my permission for all registry files changes.
...I Require 99.8%+ detection rates from my antivirus vendors.
...If I have a dual-core processor, I use 2 compatible antivirus products.

Any site can be infected. The best is of course to avoid suspect sites, but that is only the start. I once picked up a virus after re-installing XP and getting the updates from MS.....

You MUST have good anti virus software with software firewall, root kit protection, anti malware, anti adware, email "watcher" etc...

I personally use Kaspersky as it slows a PC down only a little and has all of the above already included.

Also a hardware firewall on you WLAN or not DSL Router is also needed.

Regular scans of the hard disk, regular antivirus software updates are also needed, in Kaspersky you can automate all that.

Licenses can be cheaply purchased on ebay. Then just do a download from their website....