Virus Protection (or What I Could Use In the Real World, Too)

There's nothing more ironic than writing about Viruses while sick.  Oh well.  Anyway, at least you don't have to hear me gag up whatever my lungs decide they don't want anymore...

Well, anyway, we did a lot of items pertaining to protection from viruses, spyware, and other forms of malware.  We also had to create an Emergency Plan just in case.  For me, this was probably a good idea.  Within the last year, I made the mistake of not renewing my virus protection software.  You would think that someone taking a course in Instructional Technology would know better, but that wouldn't be the first time someone's said that about me.  Anyway, I began to realize something was wrong when I started getting A LOT of pop-ups on my computer.  Also, it seemed to take forever to load up my computer.  This wasn't good (especially during the HTML course, where I had to be on my computer a lot.)

Through searching, I found The Shield.  The first scan was nasty---lots of items found.  There was definitely a reason why I was running so slow.  The Shield would catch lots of attempts as I was on the web; I began to realize that some of the sites I frequented had adware or other items that really liked my computer.  As a result, I began to use a little bit more thought in regards to the use of my computer.

For now, my computer runs fine.  The Shield updates my computer several times per week, and I rarely get messages from my program about attempted attacks on my computer.  That makes life much easier for me.

So how on Earth did that story connect to class?  Well, I wish I would've had this prevention plan last year, or even 2 years ago when my hard drive fried.  I lost a lot of stuff (mainly iTunes stuff) that I didn't back up.  I learned my lesson.  I also didn't even realize that I pay for coverage through insurance.  Duh.  As for all of the malware, I realize that I had Adware on my computer.  That would explain the pop-ups asking to scan my computer, even though I didn't arrange anything to do so.  Glad I never clicked those options.

So, in all, BE PREPARED.  You never know what's going to happen, and if something bad does happen, be ready for it.