Computer Viruses
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Inoculate Yourself against Computer
Viruses
Computer security is a major issue in today's society. Many of
the important facets of our lives revolve around computers, and
keeping our machines safe is essential. The popularity of the
internet and the consistency with which we use it has led to
serious outbreaks of computer viruses. Viruses have become so
problematic that they are regularly mentioned in both print and
online media. It is essential that you protect yourself against
viruses, especially those transmitted via the internet. A virus
can be transmitted through an e-mail or an innocuous looking
floppy disk. Millions of computers are infected each hour, and
if yours is next, you could lose all of your data on your
network or on the machine itself. Once gone, it will be
irretrievable.
A computer virus is a program that replicates itself. Just
like a real virus, it must have a host to exist. These problem
programs started with the first computers in the sixties, and
have continued, in mass form, today. The virus payload, or the
damage done, can be something harmless or something very
serious. It can be as simple as displaying a message or a
picture or it can completely reformat your hard drive. Recent
virus attacks have caused computers to shut down by themselves.
Viruses get a bit more widespread each day because of the
internet. Original viruses were spread through the use of
disks, but most people no longer use external media like disks
to store information. As a result, most viruses now are spread
through the use of e-mail and the internet. Opening an e-mail
attachment or downloading a dangerous program can give your
computer a virus. There are currently about fifty thousand
viruses in existence, but more than two hundred new threats are
created each month.
There are a number of different goals involved with viruses.
The earliest virus programs were written as pranks or
experiments. As some programmers begin to learn their way
around systems and the internet, they write viruses just to see
what they can do with it. For example, a beginning programmer
might write a virus code to see how far it could spread.
Others, though, have far more hostile intents for writing
viruses. One reason they might write code like this is to
vandalize current websites. This is a lot like kids with a can
of spray paint near a public wall. Another reason a virus gets
written is to cause a loss of data to major systems. Viruses
can completely erase the memory files of computer systems if
written properly, and many virus authors have this intention,
for one reason or another, as they write their vicious code.
There have been many viruses written for revenge. Employees who
are about to lose their jobs can sometimes leave viruses behind
on the company system to do damage to their former employer's
ability to do business. Lots of viruses though, are written for
profit. Viruses can send e-mail spam (so the original sender is
disguised), causing the computer to serve as a host to illegal
data, or engage in other illegal activities. Moreover, viruses
can be used to spy on users, display pop-ups while the user is
not on the internet, and obtain user information like bank
accounts or credit card numbers.
There are two major types of viruses: worms and Trojan horses.
Trojan horses, though, can be a type of worm. A worm transmits
itself to infect other computers. Trojan horses are hidden
viruses. Being hidden helps the program to get installed in the
first place. Trojan horses are programs that quietly run in the
background, inviting the user to run them, while spreading its
malicious code. This code can do any number of things. It can
start right away or it may simply install a program that won't
start for sometime. Once it does start, it can delete all of
the files on the computer or it can infect the computer and try
to infect other computers on the network. There are a number of
ways viruses are delivered, and as a Trojan horse is the most
common. It usually comes with other pieces of software that a
user might find interesting. This software is usually shared
through a file-sharing network or downloadable off of the
internet. Once the user installs the software, the virus also
gets installed.
You can protect yourself against viruses through the use of a
good anti-virus program. There are both free and expensive
software applications available that can be set to self-update
to protect from viruses. You can also protect yourself by
curbing your downloading activities. You should also decide not
to open any e-mail attachments unless you know the sender.
Taking these safety precautions will help keep you from getting
a computer virus.
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