Computer viruses, that once
started
out as an innocent programs, have now
become as dangerous to your pocket book and computer as a real virus is
to the body. A computer virus is called a virus because it shares
similar traits to that of a biological virus. That is, a computer virus
moves from computer to computer much like a virus moving from person to
person. So what is a computer virus? A virus is(Google, 2004)
a
computer program that can reproduce by changing other programs to
include a copy of itself. It is a parasite program, needing another
program to survive. Viruses
are dangerous for many reasons. They can cause costly damage to your
computer and can be quite a nuisance. So what exactly is a
virus? What exactly can it do to my system? And most importantly;
What
can I do
to protect myself? Read on to find out.
So as I said above a virus is a computer program that can reproduce by
changing other programs to include a copy of itself. It is a parasite
program, needing another program to survive.
Like I also said, viruses can be compared to biological viruses as
well. The
comparison also gets deeper however.(Media Network,
1998-2004) For example, a
biological virus cannot make energy by itself and thus needs another
cell to survive, a parasite relationship if you will. So does a
computer virus as well because it needs to "piggy back" off of another
computer program in order to complete it's task. For example a virus
might piggy back off of a web browser or email program. Viruses can be
found every where there is an internet connection
as they are most commonly found the internet. Viruses can also be found
on
disks as well. Every time you get on the internet you can potentially
come
into contact with a virus. Theoretically, you can't get a virus on your
hard
drive by just viewing a web site, you have to click on a link. This is
because
your browser helps protect you. If you have cable however, where you
are
on the internet 24-7, then your chances of contracting a virus is
higher
because
people can bypass the browser when it is not directly activated.. Some
viruses are written just to amuse
hackers
while others can be used to sell products. For example, there is a
virus
called the beagle virus. A company selling virus protection writes this
virus
that invades your browser and every time you log online it will flood
your
screen with pop ups saying you have a virus and that you can remove it
by
buying their virus/popup protection.
While some viruses can be
annoying,
some can be down right dangerous to your system. An example of an
annoying
virus was a classic example called roaches. In this is one of the
first
viruses in which when ever you moved a desktop icon roaches would
scramble
around your screen then hide under another icon. Like I said, some
viruses
are a lot more serious. Their are some viruses that can crash your hard
drive
and erase all data. With all the data erased your computer can't even
start
up let alone work. You might even have to by a whole new computer!
There are several
types of viruses but the four most common are worms,
viruses, trojan horse viruses, and e-mail viruses.(Media Network,
1998-2004) As follows:
Viruses - A virus is a small
piece
of programming that usually piggybacks on real programs. For example, a
virus
might attach itself to a program such such as Microsoft Word. Each
time the word program runs, the virus runs, too, and it has the
chance to reproduce (by attaching to other programs) or cause chaos.
E-mail viruses - An e-mail virus moves around in e-mail
messages, and usually replicates itself by automatically mailing itself
to dozens of people in the victim's e-mail address book. This is a very
deadly virus can it can send messages to everyone in your address book
and thus it can spread really fast.
Worms - A worm is a small piece of software that uses
computer networks
and security holes to replicate itself. A worm can find a hole in your
browser security for example and begin to copy itself. To copy itself,
a copy of the worm scans the
network for another machine that has a specific security hole. It
copies itself to the new machine using the security hole, and then
starts replicating from there, as well.
Trojan horses - A Trojan horse is simply a computer
program. The program claims to do one thing (it may claim to be a game
or a movie form Microsoft media player)
but instead does damage when you run it (it may erase your hard disk).
Trojan horses have no way to replicate automatically. This is also a
really dangerous program because if your hard drive gets COMPLETELY
erased your computer might not even be able to run and so you will have
to buy a new computer.
To sum up be aware
that there are
many virus hoaxes as well.(Mediaweave, 2000)
A virus hoax is something people do to
scare
and cause chaos to other people by making up stuff and telling
you that it's a virus. A few quick pointers on how to tell if you've
been the but of a hoax to see if
A. Did
a genuine computer security expert send you the alert? B. Does
it urge you to forward the chain letter to everyone you know? C. Does
the email offer a link to an authoritative details page?
If any of the following is
true about a suspected virus then there is a good chance that your
computer does not have a virus but is instead a hoax. To report any
hoax viruses you can email the following site: http://www.vmyths.com/
Now that
i've learned about
viruses
what can i do to protect myself? Well, you can do many things and a lot
of
them have to do with common sense. The first thing you can do is buy
anti
virus protection from companies such as Microsoft. Some examples of
anti
virus programs include, Norton anti virus, and, McAfee anti virus. An
average copy of McAfee anti virus goes for about 29.95 (Networks Associates
Technology, 2004)! The
down
side to these programs how ever, is that they can significantly slow
down
your internet connection among many other things. For example you might
go to move your mouse across the screen and it won't move until a few
seconds later. It is also important to carefully choose your virus
protection because new viruses are being created every day. The
software you choose should be easily up-datable so keep up with the
current viruses. Anther thing you can
do
to protect your self is by using common sense. For example, don't click
on
any pop up ads as they may contain viruses. Some web browsers even have
anti
pop up options available to the user, such as the Netscape Communicator
browser. Many sites have pop ups that say
stuff such as "You've Won" or
How ever in reality, you should not
click here because when you do the supposed link to claim your prize,
that's really letting
a virus download onto your system.
As you have found out giving people worms and
viruses can be very dangerouse to ones computer hardware. Luckely, the
law is on our side.(Key
Proffesional Media Inc.,2004) According to the law "computer
program copied to or installed on a computer, computer network,
computer program, computer software or computer system without the
informed consent of the owner that may replicate itself and that
causes unauthorized activities within or by the computer." The punishment for anyone who fullfills these
requirments is up to 7 years in jail aswell as the criminals have to
pay for the costs of any damage. In conclusion, viruses can be very
dangerous pieces
of software and can cost you a lot of money in damage. By reading this
guide hopefully you have gained a better idea of what a virus is about
and information pertaining to it. If you are still interested in
finding out more information on viruses feel free to look at my
bibliography and scan the sites to find more information. Fortunately,
if
your
well educated and have an anti virus program your chance of contracting
a
computer virus is surprisingly small.
