6 Tips to Avoid Facebook Viruses and Spam Messages

Facebook, the biggest social network with 500 million users, provides an interface to hit an unsuspecting crowd with malware and viruses. These viruses aren’t very difficult to detect  if you are cautious enough. These Facebook viruses appear on your wall in forms of a bizarre or eye-catching stories and videos and once the user has clicked/liked the link, it is already late. The next step will be getting rid of your Facebook virus which is a time-consuming  process.  Its better to avoid spam messages and trojan viruses in the first place.

How to avoid it?

1. Think before you Act. Viruses on Facebook are sneaky. The hackers and cybercriminals who want your information know that Facebook users will often click on an interesting post without a moment’s thought. If a post sounds a bit over-the-top like a headline out of a tabloid, this is your first warning sign.

2. Try to avoid Links and videos with Catchy words like  “funniest ever,” “most hilarious video on Facebook,” or “you’ve got to see this.” Do some keyword research to see if the post in question comes up in a search engine with information about a current virus or trojan.

3. Check the poster of the Suspicious content. If you receive a message from someone you do not know, this is an obvious red flag. Facebook video viruses also tend to pop up in your news feed or on your wall from friends you haven’t talked to in a while. Unfortunately, it’s likely this friend has already fallen victim to the latest virus on Facebook. After clicking on the story themselves, the message was sent out to all of their friends as well.

4 Avoid messages that have been posted by multiple users as the virus spreads among your friends who were not so cautious. If a link with title such as “Sexiest video ever” shows up all over your feed from all kinds of people (perhaps friends you would not expect to make such a post), this is another warning sign. Similar direct messages are a likely variant of the notorious Facebook Koobface virus which has used this approach in the past.

5. Do not fall for the “typical” money-transfer schemes. Chat messages from friends needing funds will usually sound suspicious. Everything can’t be screened before posting, so money transfer scams and hoax applications still find their way on to Facebook. You should also avoid applications that claim to do a full “Error check” or fix security problems related to your profile.

6. Update your anti-virus software frequently. If you do accidentally click on a post before realizing it is a hoax, do not click on any further links or downloads. If it’s too late and you have already been infected, the Facebook virus removal process may be effortless if you have a good anti-virus program to catch the virus, trojan or other malware early on.