E-Protectors.com, PC maintenance & Critical Security » virus extensions http://e-protectors.com Computer Protection at its Finest! Sat, 05 Sep 2009 23:17:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 The Hoax of Antivirus http://e-protectors.com/2009/09/05/the-hoax-of-antivirus/ http://e-protectors.com/2009/09/05/the-hoax-of-antivirus/#comments Sat, 05 Sep 2009 23:17:58 +0000 Pierce http://e-protectors.com/?p=292 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> I hope everybody reading this article now knows the basics to common sense when it comes to computers and the Internet! Just in-case you’ve forgot some of the key pointers we’ve talked about in multiple articles, we’re going to talk about some anti-virus facts. Anti-virus does not make your computer invincible, and in-fact 28% of machines with anti-virus are unknowingly infected with a virus of some sort!

We’ve talked about virus extensions, common sense, and have mentioned many things about viruses and anti-virus; yet people just don’t understand that anti-virus is extremely simple to bypass!

This is what people think:

“Anti-virus companies and employee’s get paid millions of dollars to keep us secure”

Well, you’d think that would be true! Unfortunately, it’s far from it. Practically any experienced programmer can tell you how easy it is to avoid a particular virus from being detected from anti-virus applications. Just because you scan a file, and it your anti-virus says it is clean, it does not mean it is actually clean!

Listening to your anti-virus is like listening to your bank, or some random financial adviser. Look how much debt the US got in from doing that! People think just because something is of higher rank or status of them, it’s obviously much better.

So don’t go opening every executable under the sun that is supposedly “clean”. Be cautious, and verify where you got the application from. Don’t be scared to search around the Internet for reviews about the application, many independent security researchers may post whether or not it is malicious!

Although anti-virus companies could easily code a proper application in which can actually monitor what an application does, instead of updating your so called “virus database” every day. They will not do this because it means less money for them due to less updating, and no need of buying any other versions.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

]]> http://e-protectors.com/2009/09/05/the-hoax-of-antivirus/feed/ 5 What is a virus extension? http://e-protectors.com/2009/05/15/which-extensions-do-viruses-come-in/ http://e-protectors.com/2009/05/15/which-extensions-do-viruses-come-in/#comments Fri, 15 May 2009 20:07:39 +0000 Pierce http://e-protectors.com/?p=112 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> We’ve received many e-Mails and requests for a list of virus extensions. In case you do not know what an extension is, it is the period + last 3 numbers of a file. Here are some extensions you should be cautious opening:

“.exe” (Executable)

“.scr” (Screen Saver)

“.com” (Not the website, but the file-type)

“.bat” (System file)

“.sct” (Script File)

“.ocx” (ActiveX Objects)

“.dll” (Dynamic Link Libraries)

Extensions that you should not be particularly afraid of:

Pictures such as: JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, THUMB, PIC.

Documents such as: DOC, TXT, EX, RTF.

Movies Such as: MPG, MPG4, MPEG, AVI, FLV, WMV.

 

I still recommend using an Anti-virus program to scan the ones you don’t particularly have to care about (in-case somebody releases a malicious virus via a private exploit found in those extension types). Check here for a list of anti-virus programs and firewalls.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

]]> http://e-protectors.com/2009/05/15/which-extensions-do-viruses-come-in/feed/ 3