The more things change, the more they stay the same

Anyone who has been following the news is likely aware of the latest virus making the rounds. It password protects files on your hard disk, and then demands that you send money to the author in order to get the decryption key. The thing is, it's not like this is a first. Would you believe that this was done before in *1989*?

Straight from Rob Slade's History of Computer Viruses:

The disks contained an installation program and a very simplistic AIDS information "page turner" and risk assessment. The installation program appeared only to copy the AIDS program onto the target hard disk, but in reality did much more. A hidden directory was created with a nonprinting character name and a hidden program file with a nonprinting character in the name was installed. The AUTOEXEC.BAT file was renamed and replaced with one which called the hidden program, and then the original AUTOEXEC. The hidden program kept track of the number of times the computer was rebooted, and, after a certain number, encrypted the hard disk. The user was then presented with an invoice and a demand to pay the license fee in return for the encryption key.

Here are some simple steps for staying virus/spyware-free:

Step 1) Make regular backups. The more you have documents that change/are updated, the more frequently they should be backed up.
Step 2) Run anti-virus and anti-spyware software. Keep it updated.
Step 3) Avoid virus replication factories Microsoft Software. Use programs like Firefox for web browsing and Thunderbird for e-mail.