One reason malware is so prevalent is because offenders have not been punished appropriately.

Perhaps if they offered the opportunity to eliminate malware while in prison, we could turn this problem around. Provide small rewards, such as free time, when a problem is found and counter-effected. And larger rewards when the perpetrator was caught (and added to the group of individuals cleaning up the internet), such as time off their sentence. To make sure these prisoners did not perpetrate malware themselves, they could be watched by trusties, that were watched by computer savvy guards.

Of course no one would be forced to do this work - but I suspect they would rise to the challenge given no computer privileges otherwise.

Dave Robar, Kent, WA, USA

Mark from Bristol has hit it on the nail. Most folks (even thiose who know what they are doing) have to run all their user accounts as Admin solely because a high percentage of software packages will ONLY run in XP under admin. So you give your kids a restricted account and then find that their new game doesn'r run...
WJy don't MS and the games makers get their act together on this. The ideal situation is for you to install the game from an admin account so that the kids can run it from a safe account. Hardluy Rocket science,

xpatjock, Aktau, Kz

People treat their computer as if it were a tv: just turn it on and use it.
In reality when connected to the internet, the pc becomes an open door for the criminal elements of the world to enter into your life. Blame who you want, but if you don't protect yourself you lose.

In Windows XP running as a non admin user is a good start, however many program sadly wont' work properly. Security is complicated but its your money at risk.

Reminds me of the UK border controls.

mark, bristol, uk

"Another good reason to go out and buy a Mac."

Newsflash: Macs aren't immune to spyware.

Ahmed, London, UK

This article states that most malware comes from advertisements that the site owners don't control. They say that 70% of malware comes from "legit" websites this way. Why don't they disclose who these advertisers are? Let's educate the public and start going after these advertisers, and put them out of business already.

Joshua C, Baghdad, Iraq

Another good reason to go out and buy a Mac.

Steven Mcpartland, Bournemouth, England

It's possible to have 1100 changes over the course of a year because the original code is release to the public and there are a thousand little hacker-geeks all over the world making their own little version so they can go troll for personal information.

Daren, Fresno, CA

Google has been labeling sites as containing spyware for the past six months. A lot of readers might cheer and say they are doing a good job. But the system they have is not perfect, there is no warning before the message is posted on their search results. As a website owner I have lost hundred of dollars in lost revenue, some people had lost thousands of dollars. In my case there was malware, but in other cases it was a false positive. The review process to get your site delisted could take a two days to over two months. Interestingly enough while google servers check for the virus, to get it removed the outsource the responsibility to a understaffed non-profit organisation . Very clever way of doing the easy work, while outsourcing customer complaints to a third party.

I think Google should not be involved with this, because it does not do a good job.

William, Richmond, Canada

Quote from article: "The work of anti-virus software providers was made difficult by the fact that malware evolved rapidly, one malicious code changing over 1,100 times over the 12 month period of the study, the authors said."
Can they be serious? A particular "malicious code" changed so frequently; 3 times a day! Clearly only automated code can change this quickly, and so regularly. This news smells fishy, like so much news that is disseminated recently it hardly bears the most elementary scrutiny. What is "malicious code"? It is as amorphous as "weapons of mass destruction", a generalized almost meaningless term designed to elicit a reactionary response from an alienated public. Hey people wake up, how many websites have actually stolen your money? NONE I bet. The government is stealing half of all you earn every day, why not worry about reality if you have to worry about anything.

Nick, Leeds, UK

I use Firefox on Windows XP, with all the updates. I tried Opera, but Opera is not recognised by Bank Website. I use Internet Explorer 7 for a couple of sites that require Direct7, but will never use Internet Explorer to access my bank, or any website that ever asks for Credit Card Details, or my Postcode or Date of Birth.

It could be worse.. I could still have Windows 98SE (released back in 2000.)

Rick, England,

Ha, Use Firefox That Would Help Cut It Down, Internet Explorer Passed It Sale By Date Ages Ago

Ben, scunthorpe,

Keyloggers are actually one of the biggest problems in the Internet nowadays. I could only recommend to visit this site http://anti-keylogger.org and download one of the anti-keylogging products. BTW there are a lot of information about keyloggers there.

TVS, USA,