Apparently you can't edit messages after awhile, 15 minutes I believe. I was going to edit my Big Bad Wall of Text, but alas, I cannot.
Thank you Toastmaster and hello everyone. Technology has made great advances in the past few years, and is becoming more involved in our daily lives. An increasing number of people are carrying cell phones and using home computers. The Pew Research Center states that 62% of Americans go online at least once a week to check email. This has lead people to see a large pile of gold waiting for them, whether through legitimate or fraudulent means. According to F-Secure, more malicious software was created in 2007 than the past 20 years combined. Malicious software, or Malware – things such as worms, viruses, spyware, keyloggers, rootkits, adware, and Trojan horses, are becoming increasingly more common. Most of these are more annoying than anything, such as slowing down your computer or changing your browser. Others will turn your $400 dollar machine into a paperweight. Today, I’d like to give some advice on how to avoid getting an infection, and tips on treating them.
Most malware is now created by professional criminals and either sold or used by companies. Spyware, for example, monitors your activities and sells the information to companies. Other programs can control your computer to hide contraband and send spam. Much of the malware is gotten by simply visiting an unfriendly website, which then uses an array of loopholes in the system to cause a “drive-by-download”. These programs can do anything from stealing passwords to corrupting hard drive data. The main way to defend against malware is to avoid suspicious websites, emails, and files. Websites that offer free things like computer games, music, and videos are often plagued by unwanted programs. It’s becoming a common tactic for infected computers to send out messages to people on their contact lists, whether through email or instant messenger. They normally have a link to a website, which infects your computer, and the cycle continues. It would be a good idea to message the friend to make sure they knowingly sent it.
If you scarcely browse the internet and only open safe emails, you probably don’t have a problem. For those who do, such as me, we are in a bad spot. I saw a spyware threat while researching this speech, and while researching for another project. Because Internet Explorer is the most popular web browser, there are more programs made to infect it. But using alternative browsers, such as Firefox and Opera, can reduce the possible number of infections. Besides other measures, it’s important to check for updates weekly for your computer, whether it’s for the operating system, the browser, or the firewall. It is estimated that However, the most important thing is to be careful; no amount of virus protection can protect you from manually downloading an infected file and running it.
Besides financial security, it’s important to be careful simply because of how hard removing an infection can be. Some pre-installed trial programs from companies such as McAfee and Symantec have scanners and infection removers. But for some deep rooted problems, generally from worms and viruses, you may need to get out a jackhammer to have a chance of flushing it out. There are many credible online sites that offer free searches, such as Symantec. The results can tell if a computer has a serious infection, any may link to other websites which can provide more steps to solve the problem. But with proper avoidance and protection, hopefully no one will need to go through that hassle.
:
olice: I checked the sticky though! 
