There is another social networking virus going around, and it's not pretty. I got an email from Facebook this morning, stating my friend had written on my wall and had a video for me to view. I did not click the link in Facebook; instead I did the safe thing and typed the facebook address into my browser. My Facebook page came up, and there was a picture of my friend and her message, asking me to click the link to view the video.

Again, I did not click the link. I copied it and pasted it in my browser. As it was loading, I could see the link address redirecting to a weird web address, and sure enough, it brought me to a page that wanted me to download the "latest video player". I immediately closed my browser window, and a popup box came up saying I needed to update my security settings. I did NOT click that one either, just closed the box.

I escaped unharmed. However, my friend that sent me the message - - she really didn't send it. I called her, and someone had sent a similar message to her, and she DID download the "video update" and her computer is now a mess, infected with this virus. Because she clicked on the link, it then picked up and spread the virus to ALL of her social networking contacts.

I rarely use Facebook, and today just confirmed the fact for me that it's not worth it. My computer has all my work info, finances, everything on it and I can't afford to lose it all. I do backups, but it's still a very scary thing because it puts you out of business while you have to restore everything or buy a new computer. I closed my Facebook account today, so if any of you are my friends, you won't be able to find me there anymore.

Use extreme caution when you click on links. These virus folks are getting nastier and nastier. My friend Heidi got a bad one on her home computer and lost everything. It was called Dvldr, as in Devil Doctor. They just think they are funny, don't they? Now she has to buy a new computer, and she lost all her family photos. Even Geek Squad couldn't restore everything for her.

Beware, be safe....

Thanks, Kathy. I'll pass it on to my children who use it a lot. Apparently, there is also a "worm" going around on IPhones.

Good info. Kathy. I post my blogs to FB, but not much else.

This is horrendous. Thanks for sharing. I hear about these things but never know whether to beleive it. Hearing this from you means so much. I'll be extremely cautious. Sorry about your friend losing her family photos. That's awful.

I got one that started flashing at me and saying my pc was infected and it was high risk, yada yada. It was scary. It said to download something from webpage that would fix it. I did not do it. I got out of FB and ran a Norton scan and it came up clean. If you get something like that anywhere, DO NOT DOWNLOAD anything. THAT is the virus.

So, would this be considered some form of social internet VD? Given that it is a social network? (excuse my dark humor!)

Love it, Anne!

I am no longer playing the games or interacting with the masses on Facebook. I will have a page there but thats it!!! I simply no longer can spare the time and it is just wasted times on
those ridiculous games, aquariums, farms, etc...

Never got into the games, myself. Between personal obligations
and posting on this site, time is limited. I imagine folks can
get addicted to internet games, from poker to everything else.
And I'd be the first to get hooked. So I stay away from it.