How do people get virses on there computer?

Answer 1

Typically through downloading files or programs which carry a virus. Some viruses arrive by emails, and others can exploit vulnerabilities in your operating system.

Most commonly viruses are obtained from sites containing pornography (especially illegal or questionable pornography), 'warez' or illegal software, cracks and key generators, file sharing programs (such as Kazaa, Limewire, Bearshare, Bittorrent, and more), emails (especially 'chain' emails. More on this later), and games.

Emails:

One of the most common sources are emails.

Be wary of ANY email with an attachment, and don't trust any emails which ask you to:

Send it to as many people as you can (NO MATTER WHAT the reason it says) - This includes 'promotions' 'giveaways' and emails asking you to send them on to raise money for charity. These are popular ways to trick good people into doing bad things.

Any email that offers you free *anything*

Any email from someone you do not know, especially if it has an attachment.

ANY executable, such as .exe, .bin, .bat, .inf, .ins, .htm, .html, or similar.

If in doubt, use a virus scanner such as AVG Antivirus, Panda, or Trend Micro.