Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
mrlich: Photo with great thanks to Joe del Tufo - http://www.deltufophotography.com (Default)

Heya boys and girls. Just a quick heads up about something that I've come across in my professional world.

People have been getting hit with a virus behind firewalls and with antivirus protection. In fact, this latest virus counts on the fact that you have virus protection in order to propagate. It sends you something when you visit a website (in this case, our experience has been Facebook, though I'm sure there are others) that the creators of the virus know that your antivirus program will detect. This causes your antivirus to pop up a little warning window.

At this point, most likely, your system is NOT infected. The fact that your antivirus program popped up a little window is just to warn you that something was sent to you that was bad.

Here's where this particular virus gets a little tricky. They send a second pop up to your screen which says something to the effect of "Hey! You have a virus! Click here to get rid of it!"

Do not - I repeat: Do NOT - EVER click on a pop up message like this.

"But... it looks like it's from my antivirus program!" you say.

"Read that previous line again." is my response.

Your antivirus program will not likely EVER say something like "Hey - I noticed this virus but I'm not going to do anything about it until you click right here." That's when the real virus gets installed - with your blessing (you gave it when you clicked).

Keep your antivirus programs updated. Run regular scans. Work ONLY within your antivirus programs when you think you might have a virus. DO NOT EVER click on the little pop up window because it's convenient.

Virus creators know that you'll do that 'quick and easy' solution because you believe that you're doing the right thing. Unfortunately, quick and easy seldom = the right thing to do.

/end PSA

Oh - and please do NOT forward this to everyone you know. If you care to inform someone - talk to them. Reword this one. Make it original. Again - the 'quick and easy' is seldom equal to 'the right thing to do'. 

Art Spam

Mar. 14th, 2007 01:40 pm
mrlich: Photo with great thanks to Joe del Tufo - http://www.deltufophotography.com (Default)
Just my thoughts on Art Spam - Take them or leave them.

Artists everywhere struggle with the simple fact that it's very difficult to make a living selling art all the time. Marketing yourself seems a bit easier with the advent of internet technologies that allow people to reach a world-wide market virtually instantly.

But there's a tact to the process.

When you open your inbox, you inevitably find spam. None of us like it, and most of us know how to reduce it to a tolerable level, and many of us have resolved to accept it as just one more unavoidable aspect of life online. I don't, however, know of anyone who's directly adding to the annoyance.

So why are people doing it with art - the thing we love?

If you have a new piece that you would like to share with the world - that's great. Please do so. Just please have the courtesy to share it in a small selection of places. Really believe that there's an audience that you're not reaching with those places/groups? Post a link elsewhere. Maybe occasionally post new pieces to other groups. If people like your work, it should be pretty easy to find their way back to your website.

But every new piece to every group all the time?

Seems an awful lot like spam.

August 2021

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031    

Most Popular Tags

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Style Credit

Page generated Jan. 3rd, 2026 10:42 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios