Haven’t had enough of knowing which update notifications are good and what isn’t? Good! There are plenty of other notifications which are quite good and need attention, and there are some others which will be demanding your attention and may do a lot of harm. We will look at both so you will be prepared in case you see any from either category.

The general rule to safe computing is be prepared and be informed. Be prepared for many programs trying to steal your attention with various notices, but also be informed by which ones can be ignored, which ones are critical and which notices could be dealt with a little later on.

A lot of people use the Windows operating system, and it regularly receives its own updates as well. Whether you download manually from microsoft.com, or use the built-in Windows Update feature, you are sure to come across this safe notice:

Windows XP Version

Windows Vista/7 Version

For keeping further nasties such as spyware and trojans out of your machine, you might be using a safe and trustworthy program such as AVG Anti Virus:

For those who regularly use Flash-based applications and games (Facebook, YouTube, puzzle games, etc) you need to make sure that you are running the latest version of Flash. If your version is too old, sometimes you will see a notification like this:

Or, if your copy of Flash is not too out of date, be sure to check out www.adobe.com when you have the chance, as later versions of Flash usually offer increased stability, better and smoother animation features and sometimes use less memory, which means a faster web browsing experience for you.

There are also Java update notifications that are legitimate:

However, there are some notifications out there that look legitimate, but are indeed malicious and you should avoid, ignore or close them immediately.

Notice the various typos that appear throughout this legitimate-looking program. This type of software is unsafe and should not be downloaded, opened, or authorized. These types of programs usually pop up via banner ads throughout the web or they walk right into your computer if it is not fully up-to-date with the latest security patches and updated Internet software.

Just some of the things they do if they are allowed to run on your computer are: invade your privacy, steal your financial information, break into your email accounts and remotely use your computer to harass other people. Some very, very closely match the notices you might see on your own computer, and they will be offering to make your software run faster, perform a remote virus scan or safe guard your computer, when in actual fact they will make your computer slow, infect your system with viruses and allow your computer to be a central point for many more mean and nasty users.

Safe computing!