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A virus primer: The Hindu
Bangalore, Aug 25: The following hints are drawn from the virus resource placed by the University of Delaware (www.udel.edu/topics/virus/v-whatis.html) on its website, with some India-specific additions.
Bangalore, Aug 25: The following hints are drawn from the virus resource placed by the University of Delaware (www.udel.edu/topics/virus/v-whatis.html) on its website, with some India-specific additions.
A virus is a small piece of software that piggybacks on a programme you use or on certain files that automatically open a programme you use. Some viruses are harmless but others have the potential to create havoc on the systems they infect.
What types of viruses are there?
* Programme viruses infect computer programmes and become active when the infected programme is run.
* Boot sector viruses infect diskettes and hard disks and become active when an infected disk is used to start the computer.
* Macro viruses infect documents (files) through the macro programming capabilities of some programmes and become active when an infected document is opened. * E-mail viruses can infect your desktop e-mail system. They spread through e-mail messages and usually replicate by automatically e-mailing copies to all entries in your e-mail address book.
* Worms are programmes that are able to replicate on their own over computer networks. A worm, technically, differs from a computer virus in how it spreads: that is, a virus attaches itself to another programme or file and spreads as its "host" comes in contact with other computers, whereas a worm scans a network for computers with same security hole that it can exploit to infect that machine and continue replicating itself independently.
How can one get rid of a virus?
You will need an anti-virus programme to remove a virus from your computer. A number of popular anti-virus packages are available — The best known like Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro are priced between Rs. 1,000-Rs. 3,000. Some such as AVG are free. Search at google.com for links to all these services.
Best practices for virus prevention:
1. Never open suspicious attachments — Assume that any attachment you receive may potentially be infected... Delete any suspicious messages immediately from the inbox.
2. Keep your virus protection up-to-date. You are far more likely to get a brand new virus in that has just emerged rather than an older one that is hardly circulating.
3. Keep your computer`s operating system patched with all "critical updates". Windows users should go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select product updates and then check critical updates. After applying them you will need to reboot your workstation.
What types of viruses are there?
* Programme viruses infect computer programmes and become active when the infected programme is run.
* Boot sector viruses infect diskettes and hard disks and become active when an infected disk is used to start the computer.
* Macro viruses infect documents (files) through the macro programming capabilities of some programmes and become active when an infected document is opened. * E-mail viruses can infect your desktop e-mail system. They spread through e-mail messages and usually replicate by automatically e-mailing copies to all entries in your e-mail address book.
* Worms are programmes that are able to replicate on their own over computer networks. A worm, technically, differs from a computer virus in how it spreads: that is, a virus attaches itself to another programme or file and spreads as its "host" comes in contact with other computers, whereas a worm scans a network for computers with same security hole that it can exploit to infect that machine and continue replicating itself independently.
How can one get rid of a virus?
You will need an anti-virus programme to remove a virus from your computer. A number of popular anti-virus packages are available — The best known like Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro are priced between Rs. 1,000-Rs. 3,000. Some such as AVG are free. Search at google.com for links to all these services.
Best practices for virus prevention:
1. Never open suspicious attachments — Assume that any attachment you receive may potentially be infected... Delete any suspicious messages immediately from the inbox.
2. Keep your virus protection up-to-date. You are far more likely to get a brand new virus in that has just emerged rather than an older one that is hardly circulating.
3. Keep your computer`s operating system patched with all "critical updates". Windows users should go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select product updates and then check critical updates. After applying them you will need to reboot your workstation.