Conficker Virus and legitimate software

Many companies think they are saving money by getting bogus copies of software. There is no question that software companies charge too much for their software and constant upgrades. For the small businessman and large for a different reason, buying software is a pain.

But all the hype about the conflicker virus provides us with another good reason to have licensed software and up-to-date virus definitions.

According to the people that respond to these issues, anyone who had a valid operating system and up to date anti-virus, was not vulnerable to this virus. There were 2 million systems that did not have valid operating systems and could not get updates. These are the people who were the most vulnerable.

One IT supplier identified a new customer that had bought what they thought was legitimate systems, but the supplier had simply copied their own version of the operating system. The customer didn't know, and as a result were vulnerable. This begs the question. If you got it cheap, is it valid?

All small business owners are concerned about running their business and the costs of running their business. The cost of the software is small compared to what the Conflicker virus could have done. There is so much free software out there, that you can run your business with free software (including LINUX), why would you put your business at risk with copying software?

Focus on running your business. Get qualified suppliers that can take away the problems of having to develop technical skills. There is far more value in that than in trying to get cheap services.