Spyware and viruses cost users 7.8 billion dollars

[Larwee]

Spyware and viruses can really cause some big headaches. However there is money connected to this which sometimes doesn't get a lot of attention.

According to a Consumer Reports survey, consumers paid 7.8 billion dollars over two years to replace or repair spyware or virus infected computers.

Viruses were the most expensive, responsible for 5.2 billion dollars over the two year period.

Spyware infections caused about one million consumers to have to replace their computers during the period covered by the survey.

Losses from phishing scams have been rising and were responsible for 630 million dollars in losses during that period. The average loss per incident was $850.

20 percent of those in the survey didn't have antivirus software and 35 percent didn't have spyware protection.

There are a lot more details and this article has them http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtm...d=1200044XMJVC