Microsoft :1-in-14 downloads are malicious

“There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up” – or so the saying goes by Rex Stout in Death of a Doxy. Well, Microsoft has laid claim to what does sound like a frightening idea – one in every 14 downloads are malicious in nature, so the next time a website you are unfamiliar with prompts you to download a new version of a software in order to listen to a particular track, or to solve a potential problem, you would do well to think again – if Microsoft is correct and you’ve already done your 13 downloads for the day so far, chances are this might end up being the malicious piece of software that you’ve been trying to avoid.

Bear in mind that this applies to Windows users only (hey, with Microsoft behind this study, why not?), so Mac users can heave a sigh of relief and go about with their downloading frenzy while throwing caution to the wind. Never mind that Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer browser was designed to steer users away from unknown and potentially untrustworthy software, around 5% of its users will blindly go ahead out of ignorance or taking on their gambling nature, ignoring whatever warnings that are presented, ending up with a download of malicious Trojan horse program instead. 

Just do your bit and make sure all your anti-virus software are up to date, while surfing only trusted sites and all should go well. After all, prevention is better than cure.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Computers
Tags: downloads, Malware, Microsoft, statistics, trojan