Microsoft's Mark H. Walker wrote a classic article that still holds true today. With the amount of trojans and malware that I keep seeing on customer computers, I think right now is a good time to share most of Walker's article here about the dangers of drive-by downloads. Although the article has been around for quite a while and refers mostly to features found in IE 7, it is still pertinent today: Drive-by downloading is a catch-all name for software downloaded on your computer without your knowledge or intervention. Drive-by downloading is different than phishing, which misleads users by using authentic-appearing sites that deceive users into entering sensitive information, and different than pop-ups, which fool users into agreeing to download software. Drive-by downloads sneak onto computers without the user’s knowledge or permission. Some of the most common drive-by download carriers are songs from free music share sites, free screensavers, etc. Many of these ...