Online surfing and shopping is undoubtedly fun, but it can also be dangerous if you’re not careful where you click. Some statistics report that more than 90% of computers are infected with malware which can compromise privacy and cause systems to run at a snail’s pace. A recent study at North Carolina State University revealed an alarming trend which certainly contributes to security threats. According to the study, more than 60% of computer users fail to identify fake pop-up dialog boxes leaving them exposed to hackers, adware, and malicious malware. A fake pop-up could look like the following:

Computer users generally see these as a mere annoyance and click “OK” or “Yes”. To avoid the installation of harmful software, it’s very important to be suspicious of all pop-ups. As a general rule, you should close the boxes instead of clicking buttons to remove them.