The biggest concern for anyone with a computer or smartphone is receiving a virus. A computer virus can wipe your data, delete some of your favorite apps, or leak some of your personal information.
You may even be forced to pay someone so that these actions do not happen. Either way, encountering a computer virus can be disastrous.
Unfortunately, you can still encounter a computer virus while doing some of the most mundane things on your computer.
Here are some of the most common activities that can put your device at risk of a virus.
Downloading Music
The turn of the century transformed the way we all consume music. Instead of buying mountains of CDs, the first iPod made it possible for you to pay and download digital songs straight to your device.
Unfortunately, a lot of unfriendly sites took it upon themselves to steal this music and offer it to consumers in the form of illegal free downloads.
The price of these free downloads was that unfriendly eyes could see your IP address and place viruses into your device.
If you weren’t around at this time, then you have probably seen the memes associated with downloading Numb by Linkin Park or Bring me to Life by Evanescence on LimeWire back in the day.
This should serve as a warning not to steal music online. You should always try to find reputable sites that let you pay properly for your downloads or learn how to download music free.
This way, you can continue to listen to music legally without having to worry about computer viruses.
It is rare to find anyone who does not use email in their daily life in modern times. This communication method is used in a professional setting, by friends, or by companies to offer people promotions.
However, this communication method also leaves you open to receiving spam mail from unfriendly people. As you would expect, these spam messages can also contain a computer virus as well as being painfully annoying.
Fortunately, it is usually easy to spot a spam email whenever it arrives. Just look out for any email addresses that you do not recognize or any statements written in all caps.
Also, try to avoid any emails that ask you to provide personal details that you are not comfortable with. Replying to one of these emails could be all it takes to put a virus on your system, so be careful.
Visiting Already Infected Sites
There are always times when it is relaxing to surf the web for no intended purpose. Doing so can lead you to a number of different websites, some of which will be completely new to you. Sadly, some of these sites may also be infected websites.
An infected website is a site that has already been ravaged by malware viruses or ransomware. As such, they are placed online to transfer these problems to your own PC.
You will not be able to even enter an infected site if you have effective cybersecurity software installed. You can also spot an infected website by the domain name.
For example, an infected website is likely to start its URL with HTTP rather than HTTPS. You can always click on the lock symbol on the URL bar before entering a site that you believe to be dodgy. Doing so should reveal whether the site is infected or not by denying you access once more.
Downloading Games
Just as surfing the web is a great way to relax on your computer, so too is playing video games.
Computer games can be downloaded to both your computer and smartphone, but there is a catch for anyone trying to download video games for free online.
A standard free-to-play game on mobile or PC should be ad supported. That is just the way that the developer makes money from their product.
If you encounter a free-to-play video game without ads then it is probably too good to be true. Just like with free downloadable music, these free games might be a method to upload harmful viruses to your device.
Always try to be mindful of free games that do not come with ads or software that allows you to skip the licensing agreement when you play.
Not only will these people charge you to play a corrupted version of the game, but they can also corrupt your computer too. Make sure that you play downloaded games legally and at a reasonable price.
Conclusion
Knowing that these common computer activities can give your device a virus should not deter your enjoyment.
Exercise caution and you should be fine continuing with your computer as normal. Also, make sure that you have the most up-to-date antivirus software installed.
