In the "Why do they do this?" category

I have some things to do today so I will keep this short (I hope... I never know once I start).

My sister-in-law, Frances, comes to me all worried this morning because she saw a piece on the local* TV station about a virus that will destroy your computer and make you pay. The news piece was both vague and threatening. It didn't actually name the virus nor tell you exactly how to deal with it, though an alleged expert offered the name of one free anti-virus program in passing at the end. Oh, the virus in question turns out to be the "Anti-virus XP Rogue" and it is fairly easy to avoid.

I don't worry about computer viruses too much. Most of them are easy to avoid with a little common sense. In my most paranoid frame of mind, I suspect them of being written and spread by anti-virus programmers to keep a steady run of clientele. But people do get hit with them and I am sympathetic. I have been most fortunate in that I have avoided most every threat there is to date.

I have been fortunate because I live in a constant state of mild paranoia and suspicion. I do not trust anything I see or read, I do not open any file attached to an email unless I know for absolutely sure that it is legitimate. I know what web sites and services I belong to. And, even when I get messages from them, I am wary.

Last night, while I was watching my DVR'd recording of John Stossel's (and, no, he wasn't fired) latest show on Fox Business News. Fascinating stuff regarding Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged which would be followed by watching a really good 2 hour report on 9/11 conspiracies on the History Channel. But I digress... when Faye walks in and tells me (in a very worried voice) "I think someone is trying to upload a virus to my computer."

So, I hit pause and and follow her back to find that her virus checker had already isolated the offending file and locked it away in the "vault". It seems she was sent an email claiming to be from MySpace and saying something about a password and she should use the attached file to correct the problem.

No big deal. First, she doesn't have an account on MySpace. Second, if she was and there was a password problem, they wouldn't send you anything to "fix" it, they'd might notify you but that is all. And, of course, her AVG Free scans all incoming mail for these things and quickly deals with them.

But it points out one simple thing: You cannot get a computer virus without your complicity. You have to execute a program, you have to "permit" it to get onto your system. In this case, it was disguised as a .ZIP file or was inside the .ZIP file. In any case, you would have to do something a little foolish (to my paranoid and suspicious mind) in order to be infected.

The same thing with the virus that worried Frances.

So, between using a decent virus protection program of known reputation (and I highly recommend AVG Free) and maintaining a reasonable level of paranoia and suspicion, you are quite safe from contamination.

This has been a Public Service Announcement.

Now, off to my errands and then to golf.

* local means 80 miles or so away in Tampa