More of Them There Reading Notes - Viruses

Last week's reading really got me to thinking what a risk the internet is. I mean, seriously. Every computer that is hooked up to the internet is faced with danger. You've got viruses and trojans and hackers and phishing sites and spyware and malware and every other bad thing you can think of. Watts was correct in correlating biological viruses to the connected age. But, this also got me to thinking, computer issues of this technological age can be correlated to biological diseases.

First, you got you spyware/malware/trojans. Think of these as the STDs of the internet world. You go to a site, conenct with it, and the site infects your computer just like a nasty sorority girl would give you The Clap on a Friday Night. You have fun when you're on the site, but you certainly feel bad about it afterward. You have to go in to your compy and clean up the mess with Spybot or Ad-Aware or stuff like that. Your solution? Similarly akin to not knocking boots with your rather questionable choice in women, you could not go to the site, or, if you're a desperated, sad little man, protect yourself. Get a firewall, get your removal kits, and for goodness sake, get Firefox. I rarely have these problems anymore like I used to with Internet Explorer. And seriously, don't be a fool, wrap your tool.

Next, thinking of the email virus akin to tuberculosis. While TB is not really a threat now, a computer virus is a threat if you have no protection from it. TB can be dangerous if it becomes resistant to drugs, just like a computer virus could be a problem if it circumnavigates the current protection technology. So, stay abreast of the situation, and keep yourself clean.

I could go on, but the virus analogy is kind of grossing me out. I'm still stuck on that sorority girls one. Sick. All kidding (not really) and stereotyping (that neither) aside, the real world's danger is similar to the web on this front. The connectivity of the internet is the danger and the pleasure all at the same time. Keep yourself up to date and protected and you'll be safe.

And now, a viral video!