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How can I be in danger from viruses and malware?

How can I be in danger from viruses and malware?

I have been reading here (in superuser) some questions about the necessity of antivirus software in Windows and some doubts arise.

Asked by: Guest | Views: 223
Total answers/comments: 2
Guest [Entry]

"There are not that many sites that you can get a virus simply by viewing, however there are a few that try to exploit holes in a computer - for example, a while ago there was a nasty one where just viewing a special picture could allow someone to install items on your hard drive (In Windows).

The main reason for the software / services that block visitors to pages is simply to stop the nasty pages that serve no legitimate purpose. For example, there are quite a few ""fake antivirus"" type websites that the only reason for them to exist is to pretend to be a dialog box and get people to download from them. So, why bother letting people go there at all!

In the above, you are correct that you can only get affected if you actually download and run the software, but why risk it or let it go that far when you can prevent people from visiting all together... For example, I remember some sites that tell people to ignore the warnings, click accept and/or give instructions on how to load addons through the bar in Internet Explorer - it just makes sense to stop people before they are even at the page.

Typically just like email, there is low risk just from viewing, there are a few things that this is not true such as holes in Adobe, Flash and a few other programs, but just don't run .exe or similar files from people or places you do not trust (and even if you trust, take caution!)"
Guest [Entry]

"Well when u browse through malicious websites some of them have something called ""drive by downloads"" which finds an exploit through ur browser and/or OS. The drive by downloads dont ask for permission, they just simply download.

To answer ur second question, it all depends on the malware being downloaded and running. The level of riskness of visiting malicious websites is a 10 unless u have a decent antivirus.

Hope I answered ur questions correctly."