There are approximately 200,000 malicious programs in existence, with at least 80% of it targeting the Windows based platforms. The question of who made them and why they spread like wildfire remains somewhat of a mystery.
These threats usually come about in various ways: via electronic mail, instant messenger, and even suspicious websites which an unsuspecting web surfer accidentally enters. No wonder some of my buddies working as system administrators are complaining that their anti-virus batch jobs can never successfully complete the job on time.
Each day as security forensics and analysis technology improve, the hacking scripts and malicious programs double their effectiveness, damaging software and sometimes even hardware, creating a potential loss of revenue.
If you are worried if your computer is infected and is causing problems, try visiting one of our popular post on Internet Security.
You can read more on staying safe online at the BBC News website.