The Crypto virus has been making its return; it is ransomware that encrypts your files, threatening to destroy them unless a ransom is paid.
Beware of emails being sent from unknown recipients that contain zip files!
Please keep these notes in mind:
Fax machines do not produce “.zip” files – they produce “.tiff” or “.pdf” files.
90%; of “.zip” files are viruses. The technical reason they are used is because they run an “extraction tool” on windows, which makes it very easy to load the virus onto the PC.
When needing to send large files that need to be compressed, rename the file to “whateverfile.PIZ”. The receiver can then rename it to “whateverfile.ZIP” then extract it. The hackers do not know that trick. Another alternative is to use Dropbox, GoogleDocs, or any of the other large file transfer cloud based applications.