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Having a Virus Detection Program or Anti-virus program is a good start. However, one Anti Virus Program will not detect all types of Viruses; neither will two or more Virus Protection programs. Prevention is still the best cure to keeping your computer safe.
| WHAT IS A VIRUS? |
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A Virus is a piece of computer code that is always written by a human with the intent to alter information stored in your computer in some way. However, this is not to be mistaken with innocent mistakes made by a computer programmer. These are usually referred to as Bugs, and are usually fixed by updating a later version of the same software.
A Virus starts in the computer of the person that writes that Virus. It is almost always a program designed to self infect by passing from one computer to computer. Some may sit on your Hard Drive, or a Floppy Disk, CD, Zip, Jazz... basically any form of 'information storage' that is read by your computer.
Once a Virus infects your computer, it may do nothing initially, or it may trigger on a particular Calendar date, when a program is opened or asked to perform a specific task. Some Viruses can delete or re-write files on your computer. Depending on which files are infected, will determine the effect it has on your computer. Other Viruses (Trojans) may give access rights to someone, to get into your computer. Once they are in, they could do anything they like. Spyware is looked upon as a Virus by a lot of people. Some Shareware or Freeware programs you may download from the Internet may contain Spyware. This enables the company to view what you are doing with your computer. How much of your privacy they can view varies, but generally they are not as vicious as other Viruses. Hoax Viruses are just that, they are designed to scare you, pretending that there is a Virus when in fact there is not. Something to be careful with here is to never assume the information is a Hoax. It is always better to assume the worst.
Since technology constantly changes, so do the Viruses. With the ever-expanding Internet, Viruses such as Worms have surfaced due to the ever-increasing use of Email. Worms generally travel through Email, and this is how they spread themselves. They often read contact lists in your Email (Address Book) to identify their next targets.
| HOW DOES MY COMPUTER GET A VIRUS? |
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Viruses come in many shapes, sizes or forms. There are so many different Viruses out there, it has become necessary to categorise them into groups. These Groups help us determine how they are spread, and what damage they do to your computer. You have probably heard of some of these groups (types) before: Trojan, Stealth, Script, Worm, Macro, and Hoax Virus types are to list but a few.
All of the ways you store information on your computer use similar ways to be read by your computer. The Virus writer takes this into account. Knowing the mechanics of what actually happens when you put a Floppy Disk into your computer, they write files that sit in a place on the Floppy Disk (CD, Zip, etc) that is always read by your computer (whether you have actually copied files from it or not). Before the Internet, this was the most common way viruses spread.
With the Internet, you can include to 'possible risks of contamination' every computer that holds the information for your favourite Web Sites. Generally, looking at Web Pages will not do any harm (at the moment) but downloading files to your computer is how you may infect your computer with a Virus when surfing the Internet. This also applies when opening attachments in your Email.
Once a Virus is written and spreads, some people commonly called 'Script Kiddies' re-write the Virus slightly. They then claim fame to writing a Virus of their own. Several Viruses are written a day. Now you have some idea as to how many different Viruses are out there, and how vulnerable you may be to getting one, you may ask, what do they do if they get into my computer?
| HOW TO PROTECT AGAINST VIRUSES |
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There is no way to absolutely protect one’s self with a fail-safe virus protection. There are habits you can change, and software that can detect viruses. Something to keep in mind is that everyday a new virus is being written. This means a virus detection program purchased today, may not detect, let alone help you remove a virus that is written tomorrow.
Having a Virus Detection Program or Anti-virus program is a good start. However, one Anti Virus Program will not detect all types of Viruses; neither will two or more Virus Protection programs. But it is a good start, because as long as you keep downloading the latest Virus Information (often called DAT files) and Virus Detection Engines, you are relatively safe from a lot of different common viruses. If you do not have any anti-virus software, you can download free software from the Internet. We recommend either AVG (http://www.grisoft.com) or AntiVir (http://www.free-av.com).
A lot of people opt for the more simple way of protection in the form of not opening any mail attachments, or downloading any files from the Internet. Something to keep in mind is that software bought from a store could be infected with a virus. It has happened in the past. This is software you may have purchased from a reputable computer store. Some Viruses seem to target particular software companies, or programs, although this is very rare. You are never completely safe from Viruses, so always make copies of anything you wish to keep, on a removable disk (Back-Up).
For businesses, Firewall programs or hardware can block connections or information being sent from other computers. This can be a good way to protect from both virus-infected mail, and unauthorised intrusions from other computer users.
So now you are aware of some methods used to protect your computer from Virus attacks, what is best for you?
If you are a home computer user, who connects to the Internet, we suggest you BACK UP your files. This means saving on a disk (CD, Zip, Jazz or Floppy Disk) a copy of any file you would not want to loose forever. It may take some time, but you will thank us for recommending this, should something go wrong. You will also need a Boot Up disk, in case you turn your computer on, and Windows does not load. A Boot Up disk can be created via most leading Anti Virus Programs, and backs up some files that get your computer to a point where commands can be given to it (DOS mode - the black and white letters you see on start up is DOS). You may not be fluent in DOS, but it will help whoever needs to fix your computer should you get into this state. If you back up, be sure to run an Anti Virus Program before saving anything for back up. A lot of people re-infect their computer by backing up a file that is infected with a Virus.
We recommend that every home user not only installs an Anti Virus Program, but runs it, knows how to use it, and has set it up to automatically kick in when new files are added to your computer. Of course, with a new Virus being written everyday, all of this is pointless unless you regularly update your program with the latest virus information, which is usually supplied by the manufacturers of your Anti Virus Program. How often is entirely up to you.
Another thing we would recommend to the home user is to be cautious when downloading files from the Internet, or opening Email attachments. Even mail from people you call friends can be contaminated without their knowledge. Most viruses travel through the Email system on the Internet (usually called Email-worms). Worms often spread by contaminating one Mail program such as Outlook Express, and sending a mail message infected with a Virus to everyone in the contaminated person's contact list. Once opened by the recipient of the mail, they too are infected, thus everyone in their contact list gets infected, and so on... Downloading files out of curiosity is not recommended.
One last thing for the home user is to shop for a good Intruder Detection Program as well as an Anti Virus Program. These programs allow you to be notified when someone hacks into your computer. There are several ways a hacker can gain access, but one popular way is to infect your computer with a Virus that allows them to run a program that gains access to your files. They could then do as much damage as a Virus (if not more) to your computer. These Viruses are commonly called Trojans. Back Orifice is one such program that works with Trojans to gain access. Once accessed, your computer could be infected, files stolen or deleted, or used as a storage space for illegal or undesirable material.
| WHAT IF I HAVE A VIRUS? |
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The first key thing to do is advise anybody that may have received this Virus from you since you were infected. Some people do not do this in fear of the consequences. This kind of attitude allows the Virus to spread faster. Most people would welcome the fact that you have notified them of a possible Virus infection, and usually see your advice as a very courteous act. Of course, if it is a Virus that spreads through the Email (such as Worms) Email would not be an advisable medium to notify them, unless you are completely satisfied that it has been eliminated from your computer first.
The next step (if not already taken) is to eliminate the Virus totally from your computer. Run your Virus Detection Program, and if this does not detect any Viruses, make sure you have the latest Virus files. Once you have updated your Virus Detection Program, use it to detect the Virus, and follow the instructions it gives you. If once again, the Virus is not detected, you may have one that your Anti Virus Company have not encountered. Vary rarely are these new Viruses totally new. They are adaptations of Viruses that have been identified, but changed to avoid detection by Anti Virus Programs. Your Anti Virus Company would probably love to hear from you, so they can update their Virus files thus making their Anti Virus program better than their competitors.
To help identify what Virus you have obtained, you may want to check the Links page to get more information about the types of Viruses that are out there, and how to get rid of them, what they do, and how they affect your files. Do not forget to run your Anti Virus Program on your other disks that may have been put into your computer while it was virus infected. CD ROM's are an exception unless you have a CD writer, and there is a possibility that the Virus got written onto the disk. Password Protected Disks are also relatively safe, as the protection prevents anything from being written on them. However, if the disk was unprotected at any stage while you were Virus infected, it is a good idea to check them. If you get a Virus after using a CD ROM, and it is write protected, or you do not have a CD writer, this means the disk is infected, and the Virus can not be deleted from that disk. Sorry, throw it away to avoid recontamination.
Some Viruses are so severe and are able to re-write your BIOS chip. This may not mean too much to the average user, but the end result is the cost involved in restoring your computer back to working condition.
At any stage that you cannot use your Anti Virus Program to eradicate the Virus, or even get windows loaded, we suggest that if you do not know what you are doing, call an expert. Experts have advised that 85% of alleged Virus infections on home computers are not Viruses at all. They are common mistakes made by even the most skilled Computer User.
Some things make your computer act as if it has a virus. This can be avoided by following some simple steps:
- Avoid downloading or installing programs that you do not know what they do.
- Avoid installing more than one program before rebooting your computer. Some programs advise you will have to restart your computer. You are advised to do this with every program installation.
- Do not delete any programs. Files are ok as long as you know what they do. But programs you should always use the Uninstall program supplied, or the Windows Uninstall.
- If you have to delete a file or program that you do not know what it does, make a copy to a disk, and take note of where it was. If a program fails to run after you have deleted the file, you can install it back into the folder you found it in.
- Do not stop your computer from installing a program half way through, even if you do not want the program. Wait until it has installed completely, then uninstall it afterwards.
- Take note of what programs you have installed. If things stop working shortly after, you at least have an idea where to start to identify the cause. Uninstall the program, which you added to your computer prior to the problems, and see if that fixes the problem. Some programs can affect such things as Modem speeds on the Internet, or printer colours of your favourite pictures.
- Use your Scan Disk program to detect any bad sectors of data on your computer from time to time. Also defragment your computer from time to time also. This will help it run faster.
| RELATED LINKS |
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- AntiVir
- Grisoft's AVG
- McAfee
- Norton's Anti-virus
- Panda Antivirus
- PC-cillin
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