You probably won’t know just how bad is a virus unless you’ve already experienced system crashes and the loss of important files because your computer was infected with one. A virus infection can be as “mild” as an annoying pop up window which promotes products you’re not particularly interested in, or as severe as something which causes you to lose your entire hard disk, or drain out your bank account. In Canada, a very discreet virus showed a lot of computer users just how bad is a virus by silently infiltrating their operating systems and allowing hackers to enter their bank accounts through their unprotected browsers.

You wouldn’t even be asking how bad is a virus if you realized how susceptible your confidential data are to hackers whenever you go online. Internet banking transactions can allow thieves to steal your identity, hack your credit card details, and even spread virus infection through your emails without your knowledge. For the past years, social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have been perfect venues for hackers to spread their programs. Virus infections piggyback on other programs, image files, executable files, and even private messages, that when you click on a link or open a message, the virus automatically runs on your system and does its job.

To stop fretting about how bad is a virus, you need to know how to be a responsible computer user. Since you know that you can be both a victim and an unsuspecting agent to the spread of these viral infections, you should install a reputable anti-virus software program to your computer immediately. Research about top notch virus protection shields and find out how you can get them. Some have free versions which you can try out first if you don’t want to invest in one just yet, but make sure that you only use these free versions for trials. Commercial anti-virus programs can give you benefits which free trials couldn’t. If you’re trying to protect very sensitive data on your computer, a commercial anti-virus software program is a worthy investment.

Now that you know just how bad a virus is , you also have to take common sense precautions when you’re using your computer. Label all of your disks properly so that you won’t mix them with disks which were used in other computers. If you have to transfer files using someone else’s disk, run a virus scan first, and if your system detects an infection, quarantine and delete the virus before making any data transfers.

Whenever you use the internet, make sure that you don’t visit questionable websites. Sites which promise free game downloads, and sites promulgating pornographic materials are the perfect nesting grounds for these viral infections. If children are using your computer, limit the sites they can visit and tell them never to give out confidential information to strangers.

You should be very cautious whenever you check your email. Do not open suspicious messages from people you don’t know. Delete messages which look like SPAM and don’t let them sit inside your email account for too long.

To avoid getting hacked through social networking pages, do not add friends whom you don’t know personally. If a friend sends you a link through your social networking inbox, do not click on the link unless it comes with a full description. If possible, ask your friend if s/he did send a particular message. There’s a big chance that your friend’s account was hacked if its sending mass messages to everyone in his/her list.