What Are Bots, Viruses, Malware, and Spyware? Jimmy Ray Purser explains. www.cisco.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Whoever you speak, everyone either has had a computer virus or know an individual who has experienced the agony of trying to have rid from the problem. Computer viruses are a hot topic that appears to affect everyone who owns a computer system, regardless of whether at jobs or at home. Organizations that create software program that capture and remove these viruses is always updating their databases for viruses and definitions, so they can much better protect your procedure against all the latest viruses. Creation of programs to protect against viruses are a business of many billion income that is a lot more and more every day. The quantity of viruses are produced and uploaded to the Internet is developing at an astonishing pace for a new a single every eighteen seconds! It actually keeps corporations on their toes virus protection, search and development.

Because this virus copies itself to any computer system, which come into contact with, spreading the virus through a computer network or the world wide web is quite quick and deadly to achieve your computer. Mainly because computer viruses are a hot topic, that are generally the subject of magazine articles and forum topics online. Whilst some viruses do practically nothing over frustrated with pop-up ads or messages, others are malicious and completely established at the commencing to destroy files and operating systems on your computer.

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Of the 53 thousand viruses that were identified and classified over 80 percent of them have been classified as damaging and could harm your computer method or details files. These viruses behave the same way that biological viruses, infecting computer systems that come into contact. These programs run automatically, are usually quite low and also the jobs to damage the operation of equipment or to damage or entirely get rid of key method files.

When computer viruses are a hot topic, a lot more and additional men and women learn for the destructive power of these programs. So a big amount of individuals aware of anti-virus programs and inside a hurry to get the newest security programs, or make certain their protection from computer viruses to date. Many from the articles or blog posts and news magazines have an impact on computer viruses, sometimes panic people into believing that their computers are at risk. Having a great anti-virus computer software and updates is 1 on the greatest methods to protect your computer from virus attacks.

This must also be coupled with great habits such as file scan all downloaded files with antivirus software program previous to opening them. It’s always a excellent idea to take the time to make sure how the file that you simply idea you had been downloading the file is incredibly you. For example, a file that brands itself like a video file and much less than 1 megabyte in size, not a video file. Video files are typically about a thousand times larger, and as a result the downloaded file is almost certainly not a video file and may in fact be a computer virus.

Computer viruses are a hot topic inside the office after a virus attack gets past security protocols in location by network administrators. It only takes 1 person to allow certain executable files that had been sent to open and start playing from the computer network to generate life hell for ones company. The virus attacks can cripple your desktop very rapidly due to loss of funds and buyer confidence may well affect the way stocks are traded company that resulted in extra financial losses. For that reason it’s really crucial for big companies with comprehensive programs for protection against computer viruses instead.

These viruses are programs additional detailed and a lot more powerful than the anti-virus programs, which many clients protect their computer systems. Simply because the impact of the virus attack is far more economically harmful for your large company, the protection procedure against viruses must be much more robust and able of protecting numerous systems from the group. Computer viruses are a hot topic in between businesses mainly because of how they could affect the business financially.

live.pirillo.com – Eric sent in his top five list of tips for downloading things safely from the Internet. My best advice is to remember that software such as anti-virus programs are your *second* layer of defense against malware. The #1 layer is YOU and your common sense.
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A virus is a term software intentionally written to infiltrate a PC that will create multiple copies of it to wreak damage to the operating-system. The usual gimmicks that viruses cause are deleting files, slowing system performance, causing malfunctions in support software, disabling internet activity, and sending false emails to private contacts.

We have to know what kinds of computer viruses are out there now, because this is the first step to be able to learn how to get rid of viruses. A top-notch anti-virus software can provide complete protection towards the main system, internet activity, and system registry.

Introducing – The Virus Family

You will find various kinds of computer viruses just as you can find different human virus strands owned by one virus family. All computer viruses have specific features and resulting catastrophes that they can provocke your personal computer. It might get confusing, but you can find subtle differences that distinguish one virus family from another.

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You can find three forms of computer viruses which have evolved into broader categories:

– Trojan Horses
– Worms
– Email Viruses

A Trojan horse is easily the most everyday sort of infection in a PC. These are routine programs that are installed or downloaded onto a computer, and instead of performing their task, they revolt and commence infecting when run. This is probably the most serious threats to a PC since they can do a lot of damage to the system. Trojans can infiltrate available as any program, therefore it is quite hard with an anti-virus software to identify it. But, the only method to get rid of this virus would be to have an updated anti-virus database.

A far more complex virus type could be the worm. Very common amongst networks and wide area LANs, a worm tends to make use of security flaws and copies itself to the network. A worm virus does not require the consumer to run it. Once it copies itself onto a method contemplate it active. Since, the activity of your worm is indeed common and straightforward to follow, an anti-virus seldom misses a worm attack. Worms usually spread through email attachments because most network activity involves sending and receiving emails. A good anti-virus software with network and email security quickly gets rid of this virus.

The third type is definitely an email virus; not quite the same as the worm virus since it needs a catalyst or some executable file to begin with the infection. Email viruses copy themselves as attachments in emails, so when soon as the file is downloaded and run, it allows the virus to begin infecting. Having a contact monitor within your anti-virus software will likely reduce most of these incidents, and those that do come through are often quarantined.

More Virus Articles

Today, most viruses are spread around through email attachments. Every year, an incredible number of computer users become victims of viruses and also other malware infections, leading to huge losses of your time and funds. How to get rid of viruses is regarded as the commonly asked question nowadays. Viruses spread by means of email attachments are increasing, the most famous which often being the CIH virus mail attack.

How To Get Rid of Viruses

Usually viruses are located in executable files, however they can also be seen in images as well as other file types. The following are a couple of useful pointers that will help secure one’s body from email viruses and brief on how to get rid of viruses:

– E-mail Security Settings – Check your email security setting to make sure you hold the correct safety measures to be able to get rid of the viruses. Your security settings shouldn’t be set to permit JavaScript, Macros or any other (possibly malicious) files to complete automatically. It will open the doors with a very harmful virus to enter one’s body from the emails.

– E-mail Attachments – The best way to deal with emails that come with attachments is always to save the attachments in your hard drive and scan them for virus infections before you decide to open them.

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– Anti-Virus Tools – Install an anti-virus suite on your system and ensure it is always enabled in the background. Also make sure that the anti-virus you install is reliable enough and checks for both incoming and outgoing emails for infections.

– Update Your Virus Tools – The latest viruses require anti-virus softwares to tackle them. If the softwares are not updated, it increases the risk for that virus to harm your computer it not exclusively, than at least partially. Therefore, you should maintain the software updated with the latest hot fixes, security releases, and patches which might be released from the vendor to boost your system’s functionality and security.

– Windows Scripting Host – Windows Scripting Host is enabled in Windows automatically. Disabling it will protect the body against viruses that use the scripting exploit to spread. Some versions of Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer will include a functionality that enables these applications to perform programs written using the Visual Basic scripting language. This functionality is exploited by viruses, including the “Love Letter” virus, that has infected a huge number of computers since 2000.

– Virus protection in Ms Office Products – Microsoft ‘office’ product has a built-in macro-virus protection option. If this method is turned off on your own system, enable it to prevent macro-viruses from running automatically if you open the document in which they may be embedded.

– Anti Spyware Tool – Whenever a computer is attached to the internet, an anti-spyware tool can be as significant as an anti-virus tool. Attachments may contain a spyware program; therefore scanning an email attachment with only an anti-virus tool is not enough. An anti-virus tool cannot detect the use of spyware inside the email attachment. Although the spyware program won’t have a virus, it might download viruses to your computer once it deactivates your antivirus tool.

Once your “how to get rid of viruses” problem continues to be solved, you next priority can be your personal email security. Since emails can be lost equally as quickly as any other data in the event of a disaster, always do email backups. This can be achieved by exporting emails right into a folder in your hard drive, then including that folder inside your scheduled daily or weekly backups.

Related Virus Articles

Today I want to talk a little about the dreaded computer virus. The goal of this article is to teach you, the home user, the fundamental skills needed to help detect, remove, and most importantly prevent viruses from infecting your computer. As the owner of a computer consulting business, I have seen 1st hand how much damage computer viruses can do. To help protect yourself from a virus attack, it will be necessary to understand exactly what a virus is. A virus is essentially a software program designed with malicious intentions, to copy itself and spread from one computer to another. What makes a virus so dangerous is what they are designed to do.

A virus, once installed on your computer, can easily corrupt or delete data from your computer. This can be anything from your latest Word document to the irreplaceable pictures of your loved ones. We will get into exactly what a virus can do later in this article. Now that you have an idea of what a virus is and what it can do to your computer, lets discuss how your computer gets infected. I have heard countless times from people, ” But I did not open any email attachments, how can I be infected?” While it is true that a majority of viruses are hidden within email attachments, they can also be downloaded into our computers in the form of images, videos, or even instant messages. I have personally removed a virus from Cd’s, jump drives, and floppy disks.

Lets talk about ways to help protect your computer from viruses. To protect your computer from these threats it is vital that you have an anti virus program installed and up to date. I have seen many times in the field computers that have anti virus programs but still are infected with a virus. Let me point out that not all anti virus programs are equal. I will not discuss in this article which anti virus program you should or should not use however email me and I will be happy to help you in that aspect. Your anti virus program will do you little good if you do not keep your definitions up to date. New virus are being identified all the time so it is vital to keep your anti virus program up to date on the latest threats. Another proven method is to use a firewall.

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A firewall is essentially software or hardware that is designed to filter out information that is being sent to or from your computer. Think of a firewall as a Guard at the end of your driveway, before anyone enters your home they must first pass a set of rules or security checks you have given before they are allowed to enter your home. Some of the software-based firewalls include Norton Internet Security, Zone Alarm and Trend Micro. You may be using a hardware firewall and not even know it. If you have a LAN (Local area network) then chances are you have a router of some kind. Most routers come built in with a firewall, which is very effective at protecting your computer from viruses. Another technique used to help prevent viruses is to keep your computer up to date. If you are using a windows based PC, check Windows Update often for any security patches that are released.

Do not open email attachments if you do not know the sender, this is asking for trouble. Lets move on to identifying infected computers. As a PC technician, it is my responsibility to quickly identify the signs of virus infections. Computers with virus infections will often show some of the following symptoms. Please note, that the issues listed below may be caused by several problems, such as spyware, and are not specific to viruses. Your computer may be slow to start or shut down. You may be missing data on your hard drive or, in worst case scenarios, lose all data on the drive. You may experience strange error messages or you computer will shut down unexpectedly. Your fonts may be distorted and overlap or you may experience difficulties in printing.

These are just some examples of the harm viruses can do. Now the most difficult part, removal. This is a topic worthy of its own article as there are many different procedures in virus removal. I will discuss with you the very basics. If you think you are the victim of a virus do a thorough scan of your computer. It may also be beneficial if you scan your hard drive while in safe mode. This is usually accomplished by tapping F8 at start up, but refer to your computer’s manual for instructions to be certain.

If you do not have an anti virus program, first thing to do is get one! In the meantime you may use the services of an online virus removal tool. Many of the popular anti virus programs offer this service. My intent of this article was to help inform you of the dangers virus threats can pose, as well as giving you the knowledge to help detect, remove and prevent these threats. I hope I have accomplished this, and you can walk away after reading this article, feeling more confident of your abilities to protect your computer from virus threats.

by Patrick Clair (vimeo.com (vimeo.com An infographic dissecting the nature and ramifications of Stuxnet, the first weapon made entirely out of code. This was produced for Australian TV program HungryBeast on Australia’s ABC1 Direction and Motion Graphics: Patrick Clair patrickclair.com Written by: Scott Mitchell Production Company: Zapruder’s Other Films.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

The world of computers and information technology is going through an era of an electronic terrorism, in the form of the computer virus. It is a problem that is potentially so dangerous that it threatens the proper functioning of the virus system in today’s information age.
The virus whether biological or electronic is an information disorder. Biological viruses are tiny genetic codes DNA or RNA that take over the machinery of a living cell and are capable of marking thousand of replicas of the original virus. Like its biological counterpart, a computer virus carries in it an instructional code that makes copies of itself.
Computer viruses are computer programs which are a collection of coded instructions. The basic difference between a normal program and virus is that viruses are self replicating; they have the capacity of executing themselves without being asked for. The ‘Computer virus’ is a very broad term in itself and includes not only viruses, but also worms and Trojans.

Classification of Computer viruses:-

Viruses are classified on the basic of their mode of existence and there are three categories of viruses.

1. BOOT  Infector:-
2. SYSTEM  Infector:
3. GENERAL EXECUTABLE PROGRAM   Infectors:-

BOOT Infectors:-
As the name suggests, they are characterized by the fact that they are physically reside in the boot sector [0] sector of the disk. A system infected by such a virus will have the virus residing in a particular area of the disk rather then in a program file. These viruses get loaded soon after the Power Of Self Test and control the system and remains in control at all times. They some times have the capacity to trap soft booting (CTRL ALT DEL) and remain in control even if the system is booted from a non infected floppy, thereby contaminating the clean floppy.

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SYSTEM Infectors:-
The second category of virus deals with components of the system itself. All machines without execution require an operating system in order to create an environment in which the operator works. In MS-DOS, COMMAND.COM contains all the internal commands. If no such command file exists, commands such as COPY, DIR etc. are not loaded into the memory when the machine is booted. The system infectors attach themselves to a file such as COMMAND.COM or other memory resident files and manipulate these files.

GENERAL EXECUTABLE PROGRAM Infectors:-
From the infection point of view, these are most dangerous and devastating of the three classes of viruses. They attach themselves to program files and can spread to almost any executable program in any system. These viruses change the original program instructions into a “jump” to its own code and follow that code with a return to the original program. As a result, whenever the program is executed, the virus gets loaded and executed first and then allows the original program to process. It remains memory resident and infects each and every program that is loaded for execution.

Types of Viruses:-

Worms:-
A worm is software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate, or affect other programs. A copy of the worm passes through the network to another machine that has a specific security hole. It then copies itself to the new machine, and then starts replicating from there.

Macros:-
Macro viruses’ use commands-called macros-embedded in the other software applications to infect and spread to other files used by that software. For example, Microsoft Word and Excel have macros, and macro viruses can spread by exploiting these commands.

Boot Sector viruses:-
Boot sector viruses are older types of virus and are not so common today. They used to infect computers startup programs, so that the virus would become active as soon as the computer started up.

Trojan Horses:-
Trojan Horses are programs that claim to perform a particular function but which in fact do something different. For example, they could infect your computer with a virus or erase your files.

Backdoor Trojans:-
Backdoor Trojans are programs that allow other computer users to remotely control your computer via a local area network or the internet.

Resident Viruses:-
These types of virus hides permanently in the RAM memory. From here it can control and intercept all of the operations carried out by the system corrupting files and programs that are opened, closed, copied etc.

Direct Action Viruses:-
When a specific condition is met (such as the execution of the virus) these virus will go into action and infect files in the directory or folder that it in and others as well.

Overwrite Viruses:-
These types of viruses are characterized by the fact that it deletes the information contained in the files that it infects, rendering them particularly or totally useless once they have been infected.

More Virus Articles

Occurrence of strange messages, symbols or images appear on your screen. Strange things happen when you are doing routine work. The computer makes strange noises at inappropriate times. Files you know you saved are missing. The operating system acts slow, doesn’t come on or just isn’t working as normal. Files of executable extension such as .BAT, .EXE, .COM, .HLP, .DLL should never be accepted from others as they have the most potential to cause problems or be infected. All computer users should delete any unsolicited emails. We now know due to recent attacks that the Worms have begun to use Microsoft Outlook’s address book, so it will appear as if a friend has sent you an email. If you are not expecting an email or the file name is different from the one you are expecting, delete the email and its attachment. Electronic Mail text messages cannot in themselves contain viruses. The text portion of a message is just text, and if read, does not contain damaging system codes. If, however, you receive an email message with an attachment, be very careful. File attachments, if executed, CAN launch viruses

Your 200MB hard drive suddenly shrinks to 80MB, and then slowly expands back to 200MB. Every three minutes it tells you what great service you are getting. Every three minutes it reminds you that you’re paying too much for the AT&T virus. This revolutionary virus does not horse around. It warns you of impending hard disk attack—once if by LAN, twice if by C:>. Never calls itself a “virus”, but instead refers to itself as an “electronic microorganism.” Won’t allow you to delete a file, regardless of how old it is. If you attempt to erase a file, it requires you to first see a counselor about possible alternatives. Activates every component in your system, just before the whole darn thing quits. It would be a great virus, but it refuses to run. Colorizes your monochrome monitor. Terminates and stays resident. It’ll be back. Their is sumthing rong wit your komputer, ewe jsut cant figyour out watt! Nothing works, but all your diagnostic software says everything is fine. Probably harmless, but it makes a lot of people really mad just thinking about it. Divides your hard disk into hundreds of little units, each of which does practically nothing, but all of which claim to be the most important part of your computer. Sixty percent of the PCs infected will lose 38 percent of their data 14 percent of the time. (plus or minus a 3.5 percent margin of error.) Prints “Oh no you don’t” whenever you choose “Abort” from the “Abort” “Retry” “Fail” message. Makes sure that it’s bigger than any other file. Takes a couple of bytes out of your Apple. The computer locks up, screen splits erratically with a message appearing on each half blaming the other side for the problem. You’re in Dallas, but your data is in Singapore. Your computer becomes obsessed with marrying its own motherboard. Your programs stop every few minutes to ask for money. Your computer gets fat, slow and lazy, then self destructs; only to resurface at shopping malls and service stations across rural America. Causes your printer to become a paper shredder. : Just does it. : Your data won’t appear unless you buy new cables, power supply and a set of shocks. : Your programs can never be found again. : Runs every program on the hard drive simultaneously, but doesn’t allow the user to accomplish anything. : Helps your computer shut down as an act of mercy. : Sings you a song (slightly off key) on boot up, then subtracts money from your Quicken account and spends it all on expensive shoes it purchases through Prodigy. : Invades your system in places where no virus has gone before. : Tests your system for a day, finds nothing wrong, and sends you a bill for ,500. : It starts by boldly stating, “Read my docs….No new files!” on the screen. It proceeds to fill up all the free space on your hard drive with new files, then blames it on the Congressional Virus. : Makes your 486/50 machine perform like a 286/AT. : It claims it feels threatened by the other files on your PC and erases them in “self defense”. : Your PC makes frequent mistakes and comes in last in the reviews, but you still love it. : Claims that if you don’t send it a million dollars, it’s programmer will take it back.

If you have ever had a computer virus then you will know how awful they can be. Computer viruses are designed to cripple you in many different ways. They can completely wipe out hard drives, create annoying pop up messages and steal passwords.

Viruses have been around for decades and they are created sometimes as a prank but other times to create destruction. Back in the 80s computer viruses were spread by humans the virus was stored on a disk and distributed by humans. When the internet became popular the spread of computer viruses became a real problem.

The Top 10 Computer Viruses

The Melissa Virus was created in 1999 and was based on a Microsoft Word macro. It spread through an email message attachment. When the attachment was clicked the virus replicated and went out to the top 50 people in your contact book. This meant the virus spread very quickly. It caused problems in the US to the government and the private sector. The creator of the virus was sentenced to 20 months in jail and a ,000 fine.

The ILOVEYOU virus was released in 2000 and was a worm written in Visual Basic Scripting which was self replicating. The virus travelled via email and instant messaging clients with the subject line saying it was from a secret admirer. The virus was able to copy itself and hide in different folders on the computer’s hard drive. New files were created to the registry keys the virus was able to steal passwords and email them to the hackers email address. Apparently the ILOVEYOU virus caused billion in damages. This virus demonstrates how important it is to invest in internet security antivirus software.

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The Klez virus introduced in 2001 again spread through email messages. This one was particularly clever and used spoofing which made the virus email look as if it was coming from a person in your address book. It was a nasty virus which could leave your machine unusable. The virus was many things and could be a worm, Trojan horse, it could disable virus scanning software and masquerade as a virus removal software.

The Code Red and Code Red II worms appeared in 2001. If your machines was infected with the Code Red II worm a remote user was able to control your computer via a backdoor to access all of its information and commit cyber crimes. Windows NT machines were affected by Code Red worms which caused them to crash. Microsoft eventually released a security patch which prevented your computer from infection however if you already had a virus you needed buy antivirus software to remove it.

The Nimda Virus was another from 2001 which spread extremely quickly. It was designed to attack internet servers to bring internet traffic to a standstill. This virus also attacked computers and spread through email. It also created backdoors which allowed the creators of the virus to take control of the machine.

The SQL Slammer virus hit in 2003 and was designed to attack web servers. This virus brought down The Bank of America’s ATM service and Continental Airlines had to cancel flights due to electronic ticketing problems. This virus spread so fast in fifteen minutes the virus had infected nearly half of the servers that act as the pillars of the Internet.

The MyDoom virus was another virus that created backdoors on victim’s machines. It caused problems for search engines by sending search requests and using email addresses found in results. Search engines received millions of searches from corrupted machines which slowed it down and caused search engines to crash

The Sasser virus attacked vulnerable computer systems and made it difficult to shut your computer down without cutting the power. The virus spread over the web and was downloaded onto your machine.

The Netsky virus spread through email it created a denial of service (DoS) attack this caused systems to collapse. The Sasser and Netsky virus were created by the same person a 17-year-old German named Sven Jaschan, who luckily didn’t serve any jail time due to his age.

The Storm Worm a Trojan horse from 2006 was named this because email messages carrying the virus had a subject line “230 dead as storm batters Europe.” The virus allowed hackers to take over computers and send spam. The virus spread through the downloading of fake links to news stories and videos with the subject line changing to reflect current topical news events. This virus has said to have been detected on more than 200 million emails.

The term usually used to define a computer virus is:’ A computer virus is often malicious software which replicates itself’

- COMPUTER VIRUSES ARE BASICALLY PROGRAMS, LIKE A SPREADSHEET OR A WORD PROCESSOR.

- PROGRAMS WHICH CAN INSERT EXECUTABLE COPIES OF ITSELF INTO OTHER PROGRAMS.

- PROGRAMS THAT MANIPULATES PROGRAMS, MODIFIES OTHER PROGRAMS AND REPRODUCE ITSELF IN THE PROCESS.

*************************************************************

* Attack specific              * Attack specific

*  body cells                   *      programs (*.COM *.EXE)

*************************************************************

* Modify the genetic information * Manipulate the program:

* of a cell other than previous    *    It performs tasks

*************************************************************

*   New viruses grow in the      * The infected program   produces

*          infected cell itself  *          virus programs

*************************************************************

* Infected cells aren’t infected * Program are infected only once

* more than once by the same cell*               by most programs

*************************************************************

* An infected organism may not   * The infected program can work

* exhibit symptoms for a while   * without error for a long time

*************************************************************

* Not all cells with which the   * Program can be made immune

* virus contact are infected     * against certain viruses

*************************************************************

* Viruses can mutate and thus    * Virus program can modify

* cannot be clearly told apart   * themselves & possibly escape

*                                * detection this way

*************************************************************

However, ” computer virus ” is just another name for a class of programs.  They can do anything that another program can.

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The only distinguishing characteristic is the program has ability to reproduce and infect other programs.

- PROGRAM WHICH HAS CAPABILITY TO EXECUTE THE MODIFICATION ON A NUMBER OF PROGRAMS.

- CAPABILITY TO RECOGNIZE A MODIFICATION PERFORMED ON A PROGRAM.(THE ABILITY TO PREVENT FURTHER MODIFICATION OF THE SAME PROGRAM UPON SUCH RECONDITION.)

- MODIFIED SOFTWARE ASSUME ATTRIBUTES 1 TO 4.

A computer virus can only be put into your system either by yourself or someone else.  One way in which a virus can be put into your computer is via a Trojan Horse.

-TROJAN HORSE IS USUALLY CONTAMINATED IN DISKS WHICH ARE PARTICULARY PIRATED COPIES OF SOFTWARE.  IT IS SIMPLY A DAMAGING PROGRAM DISGUISED AS AN INNOCENT ONE.  MANY VIRUSES MAYBE HIDDEN IN IT, BUT T.H. THEMSELVES DO NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO REPLICATE.

Viruses also can be spread through a Wide Area network (WAN) or a Local Area Network (LAN) by telephone line.

For example down loading a file from a local BBS.

BBS(bulletin board system)-AN Electronic mailbox that user can access to send or receive massages.

However, there seems to be countless numbers of ways to become infected.  Every-time you down loads a program from somewhere or borrowed a disk from a friend, you are taking a risk of getting infected.

a.> Fill Up your P.C. with Garbage:As a virus reproduces, it takes up space.  This space cannot be used by the operator.  As more copies of the virus are made, the memory space is lessened.

b.> Mess Up Files:Computer files have a fixed method of being stored.  With this being the case, it is very easy for a computer virus to affect the system so some parts of the accessed files cannot be located.

c.> Mess Up FAT:FAT(the File Allocation Table) is the method used to contain the information required about the location of files stored on a disk.  Any allocation to this information can cause endless trouble.

d.> Mess Up The Boot Sector:The boot sector is the special information found on a disk.Changing the boot sector could result in the inability of the computer to run.

e.> Format a Disk/ Diskette:A virus can simply format a disk as the operator would with the format or initialise command.

f.> Reset The Computer:To reset the computer, the operator or the user only has to press a few keys.  The virus can do this by sending the codes to the operating system.

g.> Slowing Things Down: As the name implies, the object of the virus is to slow down the running line of the program.

h.> Redefine Keys: The computer has been program to recognize that certain codes/ signals symbolize a certain keystroke.  The virus could change the definition of these keystrokes.

i.> Lock The Keyboard: redefining all keys into an empty key.

When signs of a virus attack have been recognized,the virus has already reproduced itself several times.Thus, to get rid of the virus, the user has to hack down and destroy each one of these copies.  The easier way is to:

1. Have the original write protected back-up copy of your operating system on a diskette.

2. Power down the machine.

3. Boot up the system from the original system diskette.

4. Format the hard disk.

5. Restore all back-ups and all executable program.

*If it’s not effective, power down and seek for professional help*

a.> OVER-WRITING VIRUSES

b.> NON-OVERWRITNG VIRUSES

c.> MEMORY RESENDENT VIRUSES

Viruses are a day to day reality.  Different activities leads to different exposure.  To protect oneself from a virus, several things can be done:

1. Avoid them in the first place.

2. Discovering and getting rid of them.

3. Repairing the damage.

The simple thing that can cut down on exposure rate are to:avoid pirate software, checking programs that have been down loaded form the BBS before running them.  Make sure that you have sufficient backups.

The pace at which new antiviral products have been pouring onto the market has accelerated rapidly since the major infection of 1988.  Indeed, by early 1989, there were over 60 proprietary products making varied claims for effectiveness in preventing or detecting virus attacks.