November 23, 2009 | Computer | No Comments
Online game is no longer unfamiliar for all the people because all people already ever or at least heard about this kind of game. It is the game that is playing in online network so people should be c...
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November 23, 2009 | Computer | No Comments
Computex doesn't officially kick off until tomorrow, but most vendors are already in place and some have begun showing off their upcoming gadgets. Once such company is Asus, who has been busy talkin...
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November 23, 2009 | Computer | No Comments
Google today announced the addition of templates to its Google Sites, an application used to create hosted Web sites and part of the Google Apps suite. Available to both free and paid users, the te...
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November 23, 2009 | Computer | No Comments
The stylish, compact SX120 IS megazoom has a nice range of controls, but it suffers from a sluggish shutter and short battery life. Canon's PowerShot SX120 IS ($250 as of 11/16/09) is a AA-powe...
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November 23, 2009 | Computer | No Comments
BenQ this week announced the release of its GL series LED monitors, all of which feature a "truly prodigious" 12,000,000:1 contrast ratio. That number's dynamic, however, so take it with a healthy dos...
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November 23, 2009 | Computer | No Comments
Been out of the motherboard loop for awhile? Even if you haven't, be prepared to learn some new terminology. In a bid to increase market share and separate themselves from the competition, motherboard...
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November 23, 2009 | Computer | No Comments
Up until this point, ATI's Radeon HD 5000-series GPUs have really raised the bar on what we expected from the next generation of video cards. The Radeon HD 5870 offers roughly the same performance see...
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November 23, 2009 | Computer | No Comments
Samsung this morning introduced the Korean market to its AMOLED Beam (SPH-W9600), the company's second projector phone and successor to the Haptic Beam (SPH-W7900). The AMOLED beam comes equipped w...
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November 23, 2009 | Computer | No Comments
Detailed graphics card specifications and reviews are great—that is, if you have the time to do the research. But at the end of the day, what a gamer needs is the best graphics card within a certain...
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November 23, 2009 | Computer | No Comments
[caption id="attachment_2113" align="alignleft" width="228" caption="Image Credit: Asus"][/caption] Android tablet makers are finally responding to the memo that clearly states in order to compete ...
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Posted on | November 23, 2009 | No Comments
here have been a number of really bad viruses just within the past 6 months. We’ve seen the W32.Beagle, W32.Netsky, MyDoom, and so on. Most of these viruses were transported or replicated from pc to pc-using email attachments. These are easy to spot if you’re paying attention, simply because they are usually executable files, but not always.
Some attachments contain Macros (simple programs that run within other programs, all the titles in Microsoft Office use macros). If you’re not that familiar with spotting file extensions, don’t worry, that’s what I’m here to talk about today. If you are a little hazy on the whole “file extension” thing then let’s spend a few moments explaining it.
File extensions are what tell the program how to treat a particular piece of data. For example, most people are somewhat familiar with .doc or a .txt file extensions these are both text documents and when the user opens this file the Operating System looks at this extension and then knows how to open it.
Hackers try to use some sort of eye-grabbing ploy to get you to open their email and activate the virus, which is always an attachment. Most Anti-virus nowadays stops, or at least warns, you of these high risk attachments and even take measures to protect you. However, on the average 10-15 new viruses are created every day and I personally wouldn’t count on any program to 100% protect my pc. That’s why I scrutinize any email, if I wasn’t expecting an attachment, I won’t open it until I had a chance to talk to the sender.
Some of the more common file types used to hide viruses include:
.scr – Windows Screen Saver – USE CAUTION if you receive a screen saver via email. They can contain worms or viruses
.pif – DO NOT OPEN! This is most likely a virus. Clicking it will run a program or code that can mess up your computer.
.exe – executable file – a program that contains a virus, Trojan horse, or worm
.pps – MS PowerPoint (can contain macro virus)
.zip – Zip (compressed) file
.vbs – Visual Basic script
.bat – Executable MS-DOS batch file
.com – DOS executable command
.asp – active server page – internet script
.doc – Word document (can contain macro virus)
.xls – Excel file (can contain macro virus)
This is in no way a complete list. Just because an attachment may have one of these extensions doesn’t mean that it is a virus, but it should send up warning flags. Hackers use clever subject lines, and viruses can appear to come from a friend so keep on your toes and don’t fall victim to their deceptive traps. Scan those attachments and verify with the sender before opening.
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