Bogus virus and spam warnings.

I have already posted about this one but it will bear repeating.  Yet another friend has been attacked by a phone call, asking her if she had a computer with Windows on it (a fair bet that, as not many o us run other systems) and telling her that her computer had a virus.  She told them it was not even turned on, so the next thing they said was could she tell them when she was turning it on so they could ring back,  Fortunately, she had the sense to realise that she was being conned and asked them for their number so she could call them.  Needless to say,  they refused, so she hung up.

There is no way that anyone else can know that your computer has a virus unless they are illegally hacking into it.  It is a con to get lots of money from you after playing on your fears.  One suggestion to deal with it that I have heard is to say you are putting them on hold for a moment, then you press the play button on some awful music, put the receiver next to it and go off to do your shopping.  I bet they will get bored very quickly.

Also, do not be taken in by well-meaning friends sending you emails with warnings of a new deadly virus coming their way.  Most of these emails have been doing the rounds for years.  Before you pass them on and create more panic, check online for yourself. 

Never, never delete files in response to such an email warning.  You will crash your own computer very fast.  Just ensure you have a very good virus checker, a malware checker, and a spybot type checker.  Keep them up to date and set them to check your computer automatically several times each day.  That should keep you as safe as it is possible to be.