Understand
Viruses & Protecting Your Computer
Unfortunately
for us, there are many people out
there who get a rise out of writing
small programs that find ways onto
our computers and in most cases
destroy personal file, data or steal
out identity. This article explains
some steps we can take to defend
ourselves.
What
is a computer virus?
A
computer virus is a small program
that piggybacks on legitimate programs.
It is called a virus because it
shares the traits of a biological
virus where is passes from one computer
to another in the same manner a
biological virus passes from one
person to another person. Once a
computer virus is running, it can
infect other programs and documents.
Types
of computer viruses:
There
are many types of viruses but the
most common are:
-
Viruses: a small software program
that attaches itself to other programs
and/or documents
- E-mail viruses: these viruses
move around through email and usually
replicates itself by automatically
mailing itself to people in the
victim's address book
- Trojan horses: this is a computer
program that claims to do one thing
but instead does another such as
erase your hard drive Worms: this
is a program that finds a small
hole in computer network security
and replicates itself on to other
computers on that network
How
does a virus get into our computer
and how do they spread?
Some
of the most common ways a virus
can get on your computer are:
-
Downloading a program from an unknown
source and running it
- Opening a file attachment from
an e-mail
- Sharing infected files from one
computer to another on a floppy
disk
- Opening an electronic greeting
card, audio and video files
What
are the signs of a virus, am I infected?
-
Your computer runs slower than normal
- The computer stops or locks up
- Your computer crashes and restart
every few minutes
- The computer restarts on its own
and does not run properly
- Applications on your computer
do not run properly
- Hard drives or disk are not accessible
- Your computer cannot print properly
- Unusual error messages appear
- Menus and dialog boxes are distorted
What
kinds of damage can a virus do?
The
damage a computer virus can do depends
on the type of virus it is. Here
are some common threats.
-
They can delete or change files.
Some viruses will delete all your
files or even reformat your hard
drive making your computer unusable
- Other viruses will steal personal
information like credit card numbers,
account numbers and passwords
- Some viruses will slow down your
computer dramatically
- Some viruses change security settings
allowing hackers to gain access
to your computer and steal information
- Other viruses like worms infect
computers on a network
What
you can do to protect your computer
from viruses?
There
are number of ways to protect your
computer from a virus: - Do not
open any attachments your received
in an e-mail even if you know the
person who sent it. That person
may not be aware they are sending
an infected files
- If you receive an e-mail with
an attachment from some one your
do not know, DELETE the e-mail right
away
- Before you copy a file to your
computer, scan it with an anti-virus
program
- If you download a file from the
Internet, copy it to your hard drive
first, scan it with an anti-virus
program before to open the file
or run it
- if some sends you a greeting card
or a joke that you have to launch
to view, be awry and stay on the
safe side and do not open it
- The best defense against computer
viruses and to use an anti-virus
program that will scan your e-mail,
act as a firewall, hard drive and
keep up-to-date with the latest
viruses. It is reported that there
are over 500 new viruses discovered
each month
Fortunately
for us, there are a number of software
programs available to prevent, detect
and kill computer viruses. I recommend
the one below, I use it and it is
one of the most popular anti-virus
programs around.
Click
Here to Protect Your Digital Life
with McAfee® Total Protection™
About
the Author
I am an engineer who enjoys politics,
science, computers, Internet marketing
and discoveries.
