My computer scares me...

I recently bought a new PC. This involves change – and I’m not good at change at the best of times.

But perhaps the most sinister change is that my computer now appears to be trying to push me into a constant state of terror.

I turn on my computer and something pops up to tell me I must immediately update my protection. Okay. But once that’s done, I still have an icon in the corner of the screen which (if I hover over it) says “Important updates are available”. What, more of them? How many do I need?

Periodically, a box will pop up on screen that asks me permission for something to change my hard drive. “sfd;ldk;lgk.exe wants to change your hard drive,” says my PC, cheerily, before warning me that this is irreversible and I should only proceed if I trust this application. Erm, I dunno. I’ve never even heard of sfd;ldk;lgk.exe. What does it do? Will my computer die if I click ‘OK’? Will it die if I don’t?

Then there are the daily reminders that my virus protection is expiring and do I want to update it, or an exclamation mark that seems to permanently sit at the bottom of the screen counting how many ‘problems’ there are with my computer.

I am a stranger in a strange land.

Help me out here. How much should I worry about this stuff? What’s your experience of protecting yourself from viruses?

For those who are just as confused as me, this week, we’ve added a new guide to coping with viruses to the Safer Surfing Resource centre – great for practical advice on what happens if you get caught out and your computer is infected with a virus.