Vundo also known as Virtumonde and Virtumondo are all related to the same virus strain. Vundo is a malware program that causes constant pop-ups and re-directs to a users browser. What makes Vundo so hard to kill off and remove is that it's packaged together with fake security software and several other trojans and malware that cause computer systems to be comes unstable and very slow.

Since around 2005 Vundo has infected millions of computers. Throughout the life of this virus it has mutated hundreds of times and different hackers and malicious individuals have used it over and over again. In late 2008 I observed one of the worst out brakes in recent years of this strain. Since the beginning of 2009 with the exceptions of January the infection rate has plummeted to record lows.

With the Christmas season getting ready to go into full swing I predicted a large uptick in Vundo infections to occur. If this threat follows past patterns then come what is Known as Cyber Monday till the end of the holiday season computer users will be swamped with this strain left and right.

If you are already infected with this then it is recommended to run a few searches online for some great tips on how best to remove this threat. Often times you may have to read several guides and even use a few different software programs to help remove it. The virus is very hard and stubborn to remove.

For those who are not infected yet then you still have time to protect yourself. Some of the best things you can do is ensure you have all the latest software upgrades for your computer. Ensure you Java scripts and Microsoft operating system are up to date. Update your browser software as well. We do recommend people use Firefox over Internet Explorer. The reason for this is the coding on Firefox is different and you are in many ways more secure. This is not to say that Firefox will protect you from getting infected. Firefox just handles certain languages differently and these methods happen to help block more threats then Internet Explorer because most of these exploits out there that are written for browsers target Internet Explorer.

Perhaps the most important thing of all is to ensure you have proper security installed on your computer. You need to ensure you have both antivirus virus protection as well as antispyware protection. While there are many free clients out there that work great I would not recommended using one. The reason is most of them do not provide upfront active protection. They only kick in after the computer is infected and by that time it's too late for strains like vundo.