With simply a computer and an Internet connection you can access an infinite number of Web servers, Web pages, individuals from across the globe and other digital entities from around the world but it also endangers your PC and the confidential data it contains about you.

Every day of the week virus, spyware, and adware creators come up with new, ingenious ways to gain access to your PC. These simple pointers will help keep the hackers at bay:

Stop and think before you click: Downloaded files that end with .exe, .com, .bat, and .scr, (also files with .doc and .xls extensions), can render your computer completely useless with a single click. Many e-mail programs block access to any attachments so take the extra time and think for a few seconds before you decide to open it or not.

Use an anti-spam filter: Most viruses and spyware are installed by various methods of Internet browser hijacking however, e-mail is still a very common source. Use of a junk-mail filter will significantly reduce the likelihood of running harmful scripts contained within messages.

Keep your antivirus software up to date: Using antivirus software that has expired past it’s subscription period is definitely not an option: Not only do you lack the crucial virus database updates, but you expose your system to malware that targets known flaws in antivirus software.

Prevention against WORMS and Viruses: Install antivirus software, update regularly, and use it regularly. Never open unsolicited e-mail attachments with the file extensions VBS, SHS, or PIF.Disconnect your network or modem cable when you are not using your computer.

Antivirus software is software that is installed on your computer that protects you from viruses. Antivirus software programs contain in the region of 40,000 – 100,000 “malicious software definitions” that are updated on a daily or as needed basis.

I highly recommend Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus (Free) for antivirus protection.

If in doubt try online: You should only install and use one single antivirus program at a time on your computer because multiple antivirus programs will conflict with one another and cause your computer to completely grind to a halt. If you have any doubt about your antivirus program’s effectiveness, you can use a free online virus scanner, such as Panda Software’s ActiveScan) or Trend Micros HouseCall.

Download with care: Any program you download and run on your computer system could potentially result in spyware or virus infection. Download software only from reputable online sources that guarantee that all software is free from malicious software.

Use a two-way firewall: Windows XP and Vista each come with a firewall that blocks unwanted or unexpected incoming traffic; it is enabled by default in Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later. However for the best protection possible, you will also want to block unwanted outgoing connections made by spyware, viruses and scripts on your PC that attempts to either connect to a remote server or send out spam.

Windows Vista’s firewall does have that fucntionality, but configuring it is not entirely simple enough for the average Windows user. Instead, you can get one of several free bidirectional firewall programs, such as Zone Labs ZoneAlarm Free, or Agnitums Outpost Firewall Free.

Make use of antispyware program: Anyone who uses a computer can succumb to spyware infection. In fact, 9 out of 10 Internet-connected PCs are infected with some kind of virus. Spyware can be any application that tracks your online or offline PC activity, serves you adverts, redirects your pages and bombards you with pop-ups. If you use the Internet, its possible that some form of virus threats are already active at work on your PC system.

Spyware can ocassionally go unnoticed however, it is more likely that you will notice that it is present on your computer system due to the obvious symptoms that your computer may experience. It is EXTREMELY difficult to get rid of but not entirely impossible.

Even if you suspect you have successfully removed an unwanted program manually, a remaining dormant file can trigger a complete reinstallation the next time you restart your computer. And as a survival tactic, spyware programs often leave similar traces elsewhere on your system so you can often never eliminate it completely after only one attempt.

Spyware, adware, and some scripts / trojans slow down your system, cause crashes, and track your online activity. Antispyware utilities work much like antivirus software, detecting and removing the unwanted software from your PC.

One free tactic you can employ is to upgrade from Windows XP: As Microsoft service Pack 2 makes Windows XP much safer, although the operating system still has many security flaws which can be exploited, and it remains prime target for spyware creators.

If you still have a slow PC after trying the software above and you think it may be due to spyware, you can find more help and information on fixing your slow computer at Slow Computer Help. Steve Ross is a Microsoft certified computer technician and has developed many solutions for beating Spyware, computer Viruses and Adware. More information on his techniques can be found at Slow Computer Help.Buffalo NY plastic surgeon

With so many computer viruses lurking on the Internet ready to attack your computer, it is important that you are prepared for and know how to fend them off even before they arrive at their intended destination. Computer viruses can conceivably delete or destroy all the data on your computer. Worst of all, they can extract information from you computer and transmit it to other computers along with the virus itself.
It is essential that you protect your computer with an anti-virus security program which you can either download from an Internet merchant or buy at any computer software store. A good anti-virus program is one that is capable of detecting and blocking incoming viruses before they hit your PC, as well as detecting viruses that are already there. Once the virus is detected, your anti-virus program should be able to safely quarantine, repair, or simply delete infected files so your computer retains its optimum health and functionality.
There are three types of computer viruses that should be of concern to you. The first is a common and standard computer virus that is typically delivered through the medium of a launched program on your computer. The virus will then spread throughout your system and eventually infect other programs that it reaches. Most security software is designed to protect you against such viruses, but there are new viruses being developed every day by computer thugs, so it is vital that you keep your anti-virus definition file updated at least weekly.
The second type, and the one for which you are likely most familiar, is the email virus which can be sent unknowingly from person-to-person before being detected. These viruses are hidden in an email message; opening that message on the receiving end activates the virus. It can then collect, for example, the email addresses you have registered in your email client and send copies of the same virus to every person on your contact list. Most email services have built in protection that scans messages for viruses as an email is received, but the best protection is know what to look for in the first place. Email viruses “hang out” in emails from unknown sources and in attachments, usually from people you do not know.
Finally, the most dangerous of the computer viruses is the “worm.” This type of infection has the ability to worm its way from computer to computer across the Internet or a local area network. They copy themselves directly onto a computer without being notice, so you might not be aware you have one until your data is completely stolen or gone. They are written to seek out specific weaknesses of your security program through which entrance is made onto your computer. The best way to combat a worm is through a computer firewall. These front line security programs inhibit attempts to access your computer and alert you to when you have a potential danger.
Knowing now the high level types of viruses, you are in a more strategic position to protect yourself and your computer from pending dangerous data theft or destruction. Free Hip Hop Beats

With so many computer viruses lurking on the Internet ready to attack your computer, it is important that you are prepared for and know how to fend them off even before they arrive at their intended destination. Computer viruses can conceivably delete or destroy all the data on your computer. Worst of all, they can extract information from you computer and transmit it to other computers along with the virus itself.
It is essential that you protect your computer with an anti-virus security program which you can either download from an Internet merchant or buy at any computer software store. A good anti-virus program is one that is capable of detecting and blocking incoming viruses before they hit your PC, as well as detecting viruses that are already there. Once the virus is detected, your anti-virus program should be able to safely quarantine, repair, or simply delete infected files so your computer retains its optimum health and functionality.
There are three types of computer viruses that should be of concern to you. The first is a common and standard computer virus that is typically delivered through the medium of a launched program on your computer. The virus will then spread throughout your system and eventually infect other programs that it reaches. Most security software is designed to protect you against such viruses, but there are new viruses being developed every day by computer thugs, so it is vital that you keep your anti-virus definition file updated at least weekly.
The second type, and the one for which you are likely most familiar, is the email virus which can be sent unknowingly from person-to-person before being detected. These viruses are hidden in an email message; opening that message on the receiving end activates the virus. It can then collect, for example, the email addresses you have registered in your email client and send copies of the same virus to every person on your contact list. Most email services have built in protection that scans messages for viruses as an email is received, but the best protection is know what to look for in the first place. Email viruses “hang out” in emails from unknown sources and in attachments, usually from people you do not know.
Finally, the most dangerous of the computer viruses is the “worm.” This type of infection has the ability to worm its way from computer to computer across the Internet or a local area network. They copy themselves directly onto a computer without being notice, so you might not be aware you have one until your data is completely stolen or gone. They are written to seek out specific weaknesses of your security program through which entrance is made onto your computer. The best way to combat a worm is through a computer firewall. These front line security programs inhibit attempts to access your computer and alert you to when you have a potential danger.
Knowing now the high level types of viruses, you are in a more strategic position to protect yourself and your computer from pending dangerous data theft or destruction. satellite navigation system

Every day new computer viruses are created to annoy us and to wreak havoc on our computer systems. Below are ten viruses currently cited as being the most prevalent in terms of being seen the most or in their ability to potentially cause damage. New viruses are created daily. This is by no means an all inclusive list. The best thing you can do is to remain vigilant, keep your anti-virus software updated, and stay aware of the current computer virus threats. Virus: Trojan.Lodear
A Trojan horse that attempts to download remote files. It will inject a .dll file into the EXPLORER.EXE process causing system instability. Virus: W32.Beagle.CO@mm
A mass-mailing worm that lowers security settings. It can delete security-related registry sub keys and may block access to security-related websites. Virus: Backdoor.Zagaban
A Trojan horse that allows the compromised computer to be used as a covert proxy and which may degrade network performance. Virus:W32/Netsky-P
A mass-mailing worm which spreads by emailing itself to addresses produced from files on the local drives. Virus: W32/Mytob-GH
A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan for the Windows platform. Messages sent by this worm will have the subject chosen randomly from a list including titles such as: Notice of account limitation, Email Account Suspension, Security measures, Members Support, Important Notification. Virus: W32/Mytob-EX
A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan similar in nature to W32-Mytob-GH. W32/Mytob-EX runs continuously in the background, providing a backdoor server which allows a remote intruder to gain access and control over the computer via IRC channels. This virus spreads by sending itself to email attachments harvested from your email addresses. Virus: W32/Mytob-AS, Mytob-BE, Mytob-C, and Mytob-ER
This family of worm variations possesses similar characteristics in terms of what they can do. They are mass-mailing worms with backdoor functionality that can be controlled through the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. Additionally, they can spread through email and through various operating system vulnerabilities such as the LSASS (MS04-011). Virus: Zafi-D
A mass mailing worm and a peer-to-peer worm which copies itself to the Windows system folder with the filename Norton Update.exe. It can then create a number of files in the Windows system folder with filenames consisting of 8 random characters and a DLL extension. W32/Zafi-D copies itself to folders with names containing share, upload, or music as ICQ 2005a new!.exe or winamp 5.7 new!.exe. W32/Zafi-D will also display a fake error message box with the caption “CRC: 04F6Bh” and the text “Error in packed file!”. Virus: W32/Netsky-D
A mass-mailing worm with IRC backdoor functionality which can also infect computers vulnerable to the LSASS (MS04-011) exploit. Virus:W32/Zafi-B
A peer-to-peer (P2P) and email worm that will copy itself to the Windows system folder as a randomly named EXE file. This worm will test for the presence of an internet connection by attempting to connect to www.google.com or www.microsoft.com. A bilingual, worm with an attached Hungarian political text message box which translates to “We demand that the government accommodates the homeless, tightens up the penal code and VOTES FOR THE DEATH PENALTY to cut down the increasing crime. Jun. 2004, Pécs (SNAF Team)” Anne Wolski has worked in the health and welfare industry for more than 30 years. She is the owner of http://www.mummansun.com, a discount retail outlet, and a co-director of http://www.betterhealthshoppe.com which is an information portal with many interesting medical articles. She is also an associate of http://www.timzbiz.com which features many articles on internet marketing and resources.
Anne Wolski has worked in the health and welfare industry for more than 30 years. She is the owner of http://www.mummansun.com, a discount retail outlet, and a co-director of http://www.betterhealthshoppe.com which is an information portal with many interesting medical articles. She is also an associate of http://www.timzbiz.com which features many articles on internet marketing and resources.Buffalo NY plastic surgeon

This article aims to help everyone in preventing their computers from being infected with a virus or spyware as well as understand the dangers of not protecting your system from such thing which could lead to data lost and the like. Listed here are some simple tips and advices that you can follow to prevent any virus infection to your computer.Situation: You just got a new Laptop that has awesome of power and you were really lucky for getting it at very cheap price. Once your new laptop or pc, arrived you instantly updated all the programs necessary for your system. After deleting your previous security software you decided to take a break by going outside or got busy with something. But someone decided to check out your new machine and tried it with out notifying you. That someone decided that it might be ok to use your laptop to search online for something maybe to play porn, watch movies, search something or even download files from the internet. That is where your troubles will usually begin. Without clicking on anything else that someone might already infected your brand new machine with a Trojan, spyware or viruses. Catching Trojan, spyware or any kind of viruses online can be really this simple. Sometimes it only take about 30 seconds online for your computer or laptop to get infected especially if you do not have any kind of protection for your computer. You can easily buy a computer security program to any computer parts retailer store.Basic security tips1.    Prevention is better than cure. Preventing this from happening to you is way much better than suffering from data loss or more once your computer or laptop get infected. Today, it is advisable to get a security program that has both anti-spyware protection and anti-virus protection. 2.    It is also a nice idea to check your security program if it has a good root kit scanner. 3.    Another important thing you should remember is to check if the security program that you bought provides active protection. Although there are many free security software out there are only a few who offer this kind of feature so do not forget to do your homework. You can also try to ask someone from the store where you bough the software if there is no available information on the package or on the website of the product. 4.    Create a limited computer account for your kids that way your kids wont be able to install any kind of software program to your computer. Kids downloading free programs and falling for basic scams is the usual cause for computer virus infections.5.    Educate. Educate everyone who use your computer about safe computing habits so they will also know what are the things they need to do and should not do. A simple scan of USB drive can save your computer from being infected.To sum it up you need to take caution whenever you go online or want to transfer files from a device to your computer. Preventive measures and good security client is your best defense from any kind of computer Trojan or viruses. Always remember to always practice safe web surfing and computing especially if you want to prolong the life of your computer. Jewel Cole is a freelance writer for a computer parts retailer company and a website administrator in one of the leading laptop battery retailer. For more information about how to prevent computer spywares and viruses from affecting your computer check our blog. WP Robot Wordpress Autoposter

See, once your computer gets connected with the global net it faces various threats and attacks from unfriendly microelements walking freely through the cyber space and seeking for new victims. It doesn’t help if you wash your hands before touching the keyboard; the little monsters called computer viruses could be defeated in their own methods. This is where the sword and shield aren’t able to help your romantic tendencies and the only way to eliminate this gross injustice is to accept a battle with electronic weapons! While computer viruses behave pretty much like biological ones, they need special treatment that admits no analogy in biological terms. As insidious as their biological correspondents, they infect every living cell and spread around in record time. Thus, if you really need a functional pc, you should procure some electronic pills to get your work safe. In this case you cannot become a faithful guardian to your machine until you have installed an antivirus program skilled enough to detect viruses, worms and Trojan horses – all “trustful” members of a happy family! It is important to keep clear about the differences between these sorts of malware, in order to protect your computer from them all. Viruses, as we used to know them when first dealing with a computer are no more that widely spread since the Internet became popular. Once again: you need an antivirus that helps against viruses, worms and Trojan horses (not only viruses)! See the slight differences in methods and effects: Viruses intend to destroy your data. They act in sly movements and this is how the predominant negative effect of viruses is their uncontrolled self-reproduction, which wastes or overwhelms computer resources, until your cyber work space doesn’t leave you room for your actions. But since we’ve got Internet connection we have to deal with the most popular visitors from “out there”! Introduce yourself to malicious worms: worm uses a network to send copies of itself to other systems and it does so without any intervention, thus, you stay helpless face to face with it. In general, worms harm the network and consume bandwidth, whereas viruses infect or corrupt files on a targeted computer. Viruses generally do not affect network performance, as their malicious activities are mostly confined within the target computer itself. And here is the moment when the masquerade starts: Trojan horse is a malicious program that is disguised as legitimate software. Trojans use false and fake names to trick users into dismissing the processes. In most cases the program performs other, undesired functions, but not always. The useful, or seemingly useful, functions serve as camouflage for these undesired functions. While some of them are particularly benign or simply annoying, others are extremely harmful and deadly dangerous. In analogy, just compare a regular cold with pneumonia… no need to mourn for you computer! What it really needs is an anti-virus protection. Remember, they are active in this certain moment, when you’re peacefully typing. Hurry up to get protected and try out PC Tools AntiVirus 2.0 as a fair suggestion.     More Registry Repair Software TipsRegistry Defense 2009:
Summary: We found that Registry Defense exceeded our expectations in all areas tested. Registry Defense is a great registry cleaner for novices and experts looking to increase computer speed and boost performance.Registry Fix: Summary: Although this was an above average registry cleaner in our testing, the interface and navigation kept Registry Fix from scoring higher. The registered version is slightly more expensive than other competitors.Perfect Optimizer: Summary: Perfect Optimizer is another popular registry cleaner program that works decent. We were very annoyed with the messages and pop-ups reminding us to register the program and upgrading our subscription.anti-virus

As parents, college students and kids alike prepare for the back-to-school season, there are plenty of things on everyone’s minds. While university enrollees prepare to throw down hundreds on college textbooks, younger students are getting their school supplies lists from new teachers. However, there is one item that should be on every new school year list: anti-virus software.

These days, most every student uses a computer for homework, research and we cannot forget about games and music downloads. Using a PC is nearly mandatory in anyone’s daily life in the 21st century, especially a student’s. For many college students, heading back to campus means connecting their wireless routers to the university network, which may pose a greater threat than the Web connection from the comfort of your home.

The Information Age has opened doors to countless benefits, but also pitfalls. More students are expected to email professors or teachers with file after attached file of book reports and research papers. What about online classes? Many college campuses require students to participate in Web portal classroom discussions and work critiques, which utilizes file sharing. Anti-virus software is a key component of any student’s desktop or notebook PC, mainly because of the high volume of downloads, emails and files that are sure to make their way into each and every computer. According to a consumer survey, about 78% of respondents intend to spend the most on school supplies, coming in over apparel and book bags. While school supplies used to mean folders, pens and post-it’s, items like anti-virus software are becoming the norm and the necessary. After all, the more you use a computer, the better your security and virus protection must be.
Kelly Liyakasa is staff writer for 6StarReviews.com. Kelly Staller is site manager at 6StarReviews.com, a site dedicated to giving YOU, the consumer, the best product and service reviews around. If you like saving time and money by having someone else review leading sites and products, then Visit our site at 6StarReviews.com. Also, if you have the time, check out the 6StarReviews Blog for product updates, new site reviews and to give us suggestions or feedback! Visit 6StarReviews.com Blog! phoenix web design

In 1983, Fred Cohen coined the term “computer virus”, postulating a virus was “a program that can ‘infect’ other programs by modifying them to include a possibly evolved copy of itself.” The term virus is actually an acronym for Vital Information Resources Under Seize. Mr. Cohen expanded his definition a year later in his 1984 paper, “A Computer Virus”, noting that “a virus can spread throughout a computer system or network using the authorizations of every user using it to infect their programs. Every program that gets infected may also act as a virus and thus the infection grows.” Computer viruses, as we know them now, originated in 1986 with the creation of Brain – the first virus for personal computers. Two brothers wrote it (Basid and Farooq Alvi who ran a small software house in Lahore, Pakistan) and started the race between viruses and anti-virus programs which still goes on today.
Using the above explanation, it can be said that viruses infect program files. However, viruses can also infect certain types of data files, specifically those types of data files that support executable content, for example, files created in Microsoft Office programs that rely on macros.
Compounding the definition difficulty, viruses also exist that demonstrate a similar ability to infect data files that don’t typically support executable content – for example, Adobe PDF files, widely used for document sharing, and .JPG image files. However, in both cases, the respective virus has a dependency on an outside executable and thus neither virus can be considered more than a simple ‘proof of concept’. In other cases, the data files themselves may not be infectable, but can allow for the introduction of viral code. Specifically, vulnerabilities in certain products can allow data files to be manipulated in such a way that it will cause the host program to become unstable, after which malicious code can be introduced to the system. These examples are given simply to note that viruses no longer relegate themselves to simply infecting program files, as was the case when Mr. Cohen first defined the term. Thus, to simplify and modernize, it can be safely stated that a virus infects other files, whether program or data.
Computer viruses are called viruses because they share some of the traits of biological viruses. A computer virus passes from computer to computer like a biological virus passes from person to person.
There are similarities at a deeper level, as well. A biological virus is not a living thing. A virus is a fragment of DNA inside a protective jacket. Unlike a cell, a virus has no way to do anything or to reproduce by itself — it is not alive. Instead, a biological virus must inject its DNA into a cell. The viral DNA then uses the cell’s existing machinery to reproduce itself. In some cases, the cell fills with new viral particles until it bursts, releasing the virus. In other cases, the new virus particles bud off the cell one at a time, and the cell remains alive.
A computer virus shares some of these traits. A computer virus must piggyback on top of some other program or document in order to get executed. Once it is running, it is then able to infect other programs or documents. Obviously, the analogy between computer and biological viruses stretches things a bit, but there are enough similarities that the name sticks.
A computer virus is a program that replicates. To do so, it needs to attach itself to other program files (for example, .exe, .com, .dll) and execute whenever the host program executes. Beyond simple replication, a virus almost always seeks to fulfill another purpose: to cause damage.
Called the damage routine, or payload, the destructive portion of a virus can range from overwriting critical information kept on the hard disk’s partition table to scrambling the numbers in the spreadsheets to just taunting the user with sounds, pictures, or obnoxious effects.
It’s worth bearing in mind, however, that even without a ”damage routine”, if viruses are allowed to run unabated then it will continue to propagate–consuming system memory, disk space, slowing network traffic and generally degrading performance. Besides, virus code is often buggy and can also be the source of mysterious system problems that take weeks to understand. So, whether a virus is harmful or not, its presence on the system can lead to instability and should not be tolerated.
Some viruses, in conjunction with “logic bombs,” do not make their presence known for months. Instead of causing damage right away, these viruses do nothing but replicate–until the preordained trigger day or event when they unleash their damage routines on the host system or across a network.
Impact of Viruses on Computer Systems
Virus can be reprogrammed to do many kinds of harm including the following.
1.Copy themselves to other programs or areas of a disk.
2.Replicate as rapidly and frequently as possible, filling up the infected system’s disk and memory rendering the systems useless.
3.Display information on the screen.
4.Modify, corrupt or destroy selected files.
5.Erase the contents of entire disks.
6.Lie dormant for a specified time or until a given condition is met, and then become active.
7.Open a back door to the infected system that allows someone else to access and even control of the system through a network or internet connection.
8.Some viruses can crash the system by causing some programs (typically Windows) to behave oddly.
How viruses spread from one system to another?
The most likely virus entry points are email, Internet and network connections, floppy disk drives, and modems or other serial or parallel port connections. In today’s increasingly interconnected workplace (Internet, intranet, shared drives, removable drives, and email), virus outbreaks now can spread faster and wider than ever before.
The following are some common ways for a virus to enter the users’ computer system:
•Email attachments
•Malicious scripts in web pages or HTML email
•FTP traffic from the Internet (file downloads)
•Shared network files & network traffic in general
•Demonstration software
•Pirated software
•Shrink-wrapped, production programs (rare)
•Computer labs
•Electronic bulletin boards (BBS)
•Diskette swapping (using other people’s diskettes for carrying data and programs back and forth)
High risk files
The most dangerous files types are:
.EXE, .COM, .XLS, .DOC, .MDB
Because they don’t need any special conversion to infect a computer — all they’ve got to do is run and consequently the virus spreads. It has been estimated that 99% of all viruses are written for these file formats.
A list of possible virus carriers includes:
EXE – (Executable file)
SYS – (Executable file)
COM – (Executable file)
DOC – (Microsoft Word)
XLS – (Microsoft Excel)
MDB – (Microsoft Access)
ZIP – (Compressed file, common in the USA)
ARJ – (Compressed file, common in the USA)
DRV – (Device driver)
BIN – (Common boot sector image file)
SCR – (Microsoft screen saver)
Common Symptoms Of Virus Infection
Computer does not boot.
Computer hard drive space is reduced.
Applications will not load.
An application takes longer to load than normal time period.
Hard dive activity increases especially when nothing is being done on the computer.
An anti virus software message appears.
The number of hard drive bad sectors steadily increases.
Unusual graphics or messages appear on the screen
Files are missing (deleted)
A message appears that hard drive cannot be detected or recognized.
Strange sounds come from the computer.
Some viruses take control of the keyboard and occasionally substitute a neighboring key for the one actually pressed. Another virus “swallows” key presses so that nothing appears on the screen.
Also interesting are system time effects. Clocks going backwards are especially frightening for workers who cannot wait to go home. More seriously though, this type of virus can cause chaos for programs which depend on the system time or date.
Some viruses can cost the user dearly by dialing out on his modem. We do not know of one which dials premium telephone numbers but no doubt we shall see one soon. One particularly malicious virus dials 911 (the emergency number in the USA) and takes up the valuable time of the emergency services.
Categories of viruses
Depending on the source of information different types of viruses may be categorized in the following ways:
PDA VIRUSES
The increasing power of PDAs has spawned a new breed of viruses. Maliciously creative programmers have leveraged the PDA’s ability to communicate with other devices and run programs, to cause digital mayhem.
The blissfully safe world where users of these devices could synchronize and download with impunity came to an end in August 2000 with the discovery of the virus Palm Liberty. Since then, many more viruses have been discovered.
Though not yet as harmful as their PC-based cousins, these viruses still pose a threat to unsuspecting users. Their effects vary from the harmless flashing of an unwanted message or an increase in power consumption, to the deletion of all installed programs. But the threat is growing, and the destructiveness of these viruses is expected to parallel the development of the devices they attack.
MULTIPARTITE VIRUSES
A virus that combines two or more different infection methods is called a multipartite virus. This type of virus can infect both files and boot sector of a disk. Multi-partite viruses share some of the characteristics of boot sector viruses and file viruses: They can infect .com files, .exe files, and the boot sector of the computer’s hard drive. On a computer booted up with an infected diskette, the typical multi-partite virus will first make itself resident in memory then infect the boot sector of the hard drive. From there, the virus may infect a PC’s entire environment. Not many forms of this virus class actually exist. However, they do account for a disproportionately large percentage of all infections. Tequila and Anticad are the examples of multipartite viruses.
BOMBS
The two most prevalent types of bombs are time bombs and logic bombs. A time bomb hides on the victim’s disk and waits until a specific date before running. A logic bomb may be activated by a date, a change to a file, or a particular action taken by a user or a program. Bombs are treated as viruses because they can cause damage or disruption to a system.
BOOT SECTOR VIRUSES
Until the mid-1990s, boot sector viruses were the most prevalent virus type, spreading primarily in the 16-bit DOS world via floppy disk. Boot sector viruses infect the boot sector on a floppy disk and spread to a user’s hard disk, and can also infect the master boot record (MBR) on a user’s hard drive. Once the MBR or boot sector on the hard drive is infected, the virus attempts to infect the boot sector of every floppy disk that is inserted into the computer and accessed. Examples of boot sector viruses are Michelangelo, Satria and Keydrop.
Boot sector viruses work like this: Let us assume that the user received a diskette with an infected boot sector. The user copied data from it but forgot to remove it from drive A:. When he started the computer next time the boot process will execute the infected boot sector program from the diskette. The virus will load first and infect the hard disk. Note that this can be prevented by changing the boot sequence in CMOS (Let C: drive boot before A:). By hiding on the first sector of a disk, the virus is loaded into memory before the system files are loaded. This allows it to gain complete control of DOS interrupts and in the process replaces the original contents of the MBR or DOS boot sector with their own contents and move the original boot sector data to another area on the disk. Because the virus has infected a system area of the hard disk it will be loaded into memory each time the computer is started. It will first take control of the lowest level disk system services before executing the original boot sector code which it has stored in another part of the hard disk. The computer seems to behave exactly as it should. Nobody will notice the extra few fractions of a second added to the boot sequence.
During normal operation the virus will happily stay in memory. Thanks to the fact that it has control of the disk services it can easily monitor requests for disk access – including diskettes. As soon as it gets a request for access to a diskette it will determine that there is a diskette in the floppy drive. It will then examine its boot sector to see if it has already been infected. If it finds the diskette clean it will replace the boot sector with its own code. From this moment the diskette will be a “carrier” and become a medium for infections on other PC’s.
The virus will also monitor special disk requests for access to the boot sector. The boot sector contains its own code, and a request to read it could be from an anti-virus program checking for virus presence. The virus will not allow the boot sector to be read and will redirect all requests to the place on the hard disk where it has backed up the original contents. In this way nothing unusual is detected. Such methods are called stealth techniques and their main goal is to mask the presence of the virus. Not all boot viruses use stealth but those which do are common.
Boot viruses also infect the non-file (system) areas of hard and floppy disks. These areas offer an efficient way for a virus to spread from one computer to another. Boot viruses have achieved a higher degree of success than program viruses in infecting their targets and spreading.
Boot virus can infect DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98, Windows NT, and even Novell Netware systems. This is because they exploit inherent features of the computer (rather than the operating system) to spread and activate.
Cleaning up a boot sector virus can be performed by booting the machine from an uninfected floppy system disk rather than from the hard drive, or by finding the original boot sector and replacing it in the correct location on the disk.
CLUSTER VIRUSES
This type of virus makes changes to a disks file system. If any program is run from the infected disk, the program causes the virus to run as well. This technique creates the illusion that the virus has infected every program on the disk.
E-MAIL VIRUSES
These types of viruses can be transmitted via e-mail messages sent across private networks or the internet. Some e-mail viruses are transmitted as an infected attachment- a document file or program that is attached to the message. This type of virus is run when the victim opens the file that is attached to the message. Other types of email viruses reside within the body of the message itself. To store a virus, the message must be encoded in html format. Once launched many e-mail viruses attempt to spread by sending messages to everyone in the victim’s address book; each of those contains a copy of the virus.
The latest thing in the world of computer viruses is the e-mail virus called Melissa virus which surfaced in March 1999. Melissa spread in Microsoft Word documents sent via e-mail, and it worked like this:
Someone created the virus as a Word document uploaded to an Internet newsgroup. Anyone who downloaded the document and opened it would trigger the virus. The virus would then send the document (and therefore itself) in an e-mail message to the first 50 people in the person’s address book. The e-mail message contained a friendly note that included the person’s name, so the recipient would open the document thinking it was harmless. The virus would then create 50 new messages from the recipient’s machine. As a result, the Melissa virus was the fastest-spreading virus ever seen and it forced a number of large companies to shut down their e-mail systems at that time.
The ILOVEYOU virus, which appeared on May 4, 2000, was even simpler. It contained a piece of code as an attachment. People who double clicked on the attachment allowed the code to execute. The code sent copies of itself to everyone in the victim’s address book and then started corrupting files on the victim’s machine. This is as simple as a virus can get. It is really more of a Trojan horse distributed by e-mail than it is a virus.
The Melissa virus took advantage of the programming language built into Microsoft Word called VBA, or Visual Basic for Applications. It is a complete programming language and it can be programmed to do things like modify files and send e-mail messages. It also has a useful but dangerous auto-execute feature. A programmer can insert a program into a document that runs instantly whenever the document is opened. This is how the Melissa virus was programmed. Anyone who opened a document infected with Melissa would immediately activate the virus. It would send the 50 e-mails, and then infect a central file called NORMAL.DOT so that any file saved later would also contain the virus! It created a huge mess.
FILE INFECTING VIRUSES
File infectors operate in memory and usually infect executable files with the following extensions: *.COM, *.EXE, *.DRV, *.DLL, *.BIN, *.OVL, *.SYS. They activate every time the infected file is executed by copying themselves into other executable files and can remain in memory long after the virus has activated.
Thousands of different file infecting viruses exist, but similar to boot sector viruses, the vast majority operates in a DOS 16-bit environment. Some, however, have successfully infected the Microsoft Windows, IBM OS/2, and Apple Computer Macintosh environments.
File viruses can be separated further into sub-categories by the way they manipulate their targets:
TSR FILE VIRUSES
A less common type of virus is the terminate-and-stay-resident file virus. As the name suggests these infect files usually these are .com and .exe files. there are however some device driver viruses, some viruses that infect overlay files, and although over 99% of executable programs have the extension .com and .exe, some do not .For a TSR virus to spread some one has to run an infected program. The virus goes memory resident typically looking at each program run thereafter and infects it. Examples of TSR file viruses are Dark Avenger and Green Caterpillar.
OVERWRITING VIRUSES
These viruses infect by overwriting part of their target with their own code but, by doing so, they damage the file. The file will never serve another purpose other than spreading the virus further. Because of this they are usually detected quickly and do not spread easily.
PARASITIC VIRUSES
These viruses attach themselves to executables without substantially changing the contents of the host program. They attach by adding their code to the beginning, end, or even middle of the file and divert program flow so that the virus is executed first. When the virus has finished its job, control is passed on to the host. Execution of the host is a little delayed but this is usually not noticeable.
MACRO VIRUSES
Many older applications had simple macro systems that allowed the user to record a sequence of operations within the application and associate them with a specific keystroke. Later, the user could perform the same sequence of operations by merely hitting the specified key.
Newer applications provide much more complex macro systems. User can write entire macro-programs that run within the word processor or spreadsheet environment and are attached directly onto word processing and spreadsheet files. Unfortunately, this ability also makes it possible to create macro viruses.
Macro viruses currently account for about 80 percent of all viruses, according to the International Computer Security Association (ICSA), and are the fastest growing viruses in computer history. Unlike other virus types, macro viruses aren’t specific to an operating system and spread with ease via email attachments, floppy disks, Web downloads, file transfers, and cooperative applications.
Macro viruses are, however, application-specific. A macro virus is designed to infect a specific type of document file, such as Microsoft word or excel files. They infect macro utilities that accompany such applications as Microsoft Word and Excel, which means a Word macro virus cannot infect an Excel document and vice versa. A macro virus is embedded in a document file and can travel between data files in the application and can eventually infect hundreds of files if undeterred and in the process do various levels of damage to data from corrupting documents to deleting data.
Macro viruses are written in “every man’s programming language” — Visual Basic — and are relatively easy to create. They can infect at different points during a file’s use, for example, when it is opened, saved, closed, or deleted
A typical chronology for macro virus infection begins when an infected document or spreadsheet is loaded. The application also loads any accompanying macros that are attached to the file. If one or more of the macros meet certain criteria, the application will also immediately execute these macros. Macro viruses rely upon this auto-execution capability to gain control of the application’s macro system.
Once the macro virus has been loaded and executed, it waits for the user to edit a new document, and then kicks into action again. It attaches its virus macro programs onto the new document, and then allows the application to save the document normally. In this fashion, the virus spreads to another file and does so in a completely discrete fashion. Users have no idea of the infection. If this new file is later opened on another computer, the virus will once again load, be launched by the application, and find other unsuspecting files to infect.
Finally, as far as a macro virus is concerned, the application serves as the operating system. A single macro virus can spread to any of the platforms on which the application is installed and running. For example, a single macro virus that uses Microsoft Word could conceivably spread to Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98, Window NT, and the Macintosh.
Macro viruses for Word
In the summer of 1995, Microsoft Word 6 was the first product affected with macro virus. The first one (WM/Concept.A) was really only a proof of concept – one of the installed macros (called Payload) contained only this remark:
“That’s enough to prove my point”
Most macro viruses for Word use a feature called ‘automacros’. The basic principle is that some macros with special names are automatically executed when Word starts, opens a file, or closes a file. The macro virus then inserts macros into NORMAL.DOT – a standard template which is loaded every time Word starts.
In Word there are some ways to disable automacros but this isn’t the ultimate solution. Some macro viruses use other methods to take control over the Word environment.
Another method of self-protection may be to set NORMAL.DOT to read only. But this can also be bypassed and, in addition, it prevents the user from customizing the template.
Macro viruses for Excel
Excel has the same opportunities for virus authors as Word. It has automacros and a directory called XLSTART from which templates are automatically loaded.
But Excel does not have just normal VBA macros like Word. In Excel there are so called ‘formulas’ – macros stored in spreadsheet cells. The first macro virus using this technology was XF/Paix.
Macro viruses for other MS Office products:
Writing a macro virus for other Office products is not difficult. There have been already some viruses for Access, and it is expected that there will be macro viruses for Power Point in the near future.
But those macro viruses are not as dangerous as the macro viruses for Word or Excel. Not because of some limitation of these other Office products, but because data files from these products are not so frequently shared.
There is one danger which can be seen in today’s Power Point even without native macro viruses written for this product. Programmers can include in their presentation any number of objects from Excel or Word. And these objects can be infected with macro viruses – if they edit the presentation and open the infected object with its parent application, then the virus can spread further.
But the current situation may change dramatically over the next few years. Microsoft has licensed VBA technology to many firms, so one can expect to see more macro viruses for other products, too.
POLYMORPHIC VIRUSES
This type of virus can change itself each time it is copied, making it difficult to isolate. Most simple viruses attach identical copies of themselves to the files they infect. An anti-virus program can detect the virus’s code (or signature) because it is always the same and quickly ferret out the virus. To avoid such easy detection, polymorphic viruses operate somewhat differently. Unlike the simple virus, when a polymorphic virus infects a program, it scrambles its virus code in the program body. This scrambling means that no two infections look the same, making detection more difficult. These viruses create a new decryption routine each time they infect, so every infected file will have a different sequence of virus code.
STEALTH VIRUSES
Stealth viruses actively seek to conceal themselves from attempts to detect or remove them. They also can conceal changes they make to other files, hiding the damage from the user and the operating system.
Stealth viruses, or Interrupt Interceptors, as they are sometimes called, take control of key DOS-level instructions by intercepting the interrupt table, which is located at the beginning of memory. This gives the virus the ability to do two important things: 1) gain control of the system by re-directing the interrupt calls, and 2) hide itself to prevent detection. They use techniques such as intercepting disk reads to provide an uninfected copy of the original item in place of the infected copy (read-stealthing viruses), altering disk directory or folder data for infected program files (size-stealthing), or both. For example, the Whale virus is a size-stealthing virus. It infects .EXE program files and alters the folder entries of infected files when other programs attempt to read them. The Whale virus adds 9216 bytes to an infected file. Because changes in file size are an indication that a virus might be present, the virus then subtracts the same number of bytes (9216) from the file size given in the directory/folder entry to trick the user into believing that the file’s size has not changed.
An antivirus program which is not equipped with anti-stealth technology will be deceived.
COMPANION VIRUSES
A companion virus is the exception to the rule that a virus must attach itself to a file. The companion virus instead creates a new file and relies on a behavior of DOS to execute it instead of the program file that is normally executed. These viruses target EXE programs. They create another file of the same name but with a COM extension containing the virus code. These viruses take advantage of a property of MS-DOS which allows files to share the same first name in the same directory (e.g. ABC.EXE and ABC.COM) but executes COM files in preference to EXE files.
For example, the companion virus might create a file named CHKDSK.COM and place it in the same directory as CHKDSK.EXE. Whenever DOS must choose between executing two files of the same name where one has an .EXE extension and the other a .COM extension, it executes the .COM file. This is not an effective way of spreading but has one big advantage – it does not amend files in any way and so can escape integrity tests or resident protection. Another method which can be used by companion viruses is based on defined path. A virus simply puts an infected file into the path listed before the directory within the original program.
PROGRAM VIRUSES
Like normal programs, program viruses must be written for a specific operating system. The vast majority of viruses are written for DOS but some have been written for Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98, and even UNIX. All versions of Windows are compatible with DOS and can host DOS viruses with varying degrees of success. Program viruses infect program files, which commonly have extensions such as .COM, .EXE, .SYS, .DLL, .OVL, or .SCR. Program files are attractive targets for virus writers because they are widely used and have relatively simple formats to which viruses can attach.
Malicious Programs and Scripts
Viruses that infect agent programs (such as those that download software from the Internet; for example, JAVA and ActiveX).
WORM
A worm is a computer program that has the ability to copy itself from machine to machine. Worms normally move around and infect other machines through computer networks. An entire LAN or corporate e-mail system can become totally clogged with copies of a worm, rendering it useless. Worms are commonly spread over the internet via e-mail message attachments and through internet relay chat channels.
For example, the Code Red worm replicated itself over 250,000 times in approximately nine hours on July 19, 2001.
A worm usually exploits some sort of security hole in a piece of software or the operating system. For example, the Slammer worm (which caused mayhem in January 2003) exploited a hole in Microsoft’s SQL server.
Worms use up computer time and network bandwidth when they are replicating, and they often have some sort of evil intent. A worm called Code Red made huge headlines in 2001. Experts predicted that this worm could clog the Internet so effectively that things would completely grind to a halt.
The Code Red worm slowed down Internet traffic when it began to replicate itself, but not nearly as badly as predicted. Each copy of the worm scanned the Internet for Windows NT or Windows 2000 servers that do not have the Microsoft security patch installed. Each time it found an unsecured server, the worm copied itself to that server. The new copy then scanned for other servers to infect. Depending on the number of unsecured servers, a worm could conceivably create hundreds of thousands of copies.
The Code Red worm was designed to do three things:
•Replicate itself for the first 20 days of each month
•Replace Web pages on infected servers with a page that declares “Hacked by Chinese”
•Launch a concerted attack on the White House Web server in an attempt to overwhelm it
The most common version of Code Red is a variation, typically referred to as a mutated strain, of the original Ida Code Red that replicated itself on July 19, 2001.
TROJAN HORSES
Trojans, another form of malware, are generally agreed upon as doing something other than the user expected, with that “something” defined as malicious. Most often, Trojans are associated with remote access programs that perform illicit operations such as password-stealing or which allow compromised machines to be used for targeted denial of service attacks. One of the more basic forms of a denial of service (DoS) attack involves flooding a target system with so much data, traffic, or commands that it can no longer perform its core functions. When multiple machines are gathered together to launch such an attack, it is known as a distributed denial of service attack, or DDoS.
Because Trojan horses do not make duplicates of themselves on the victims disk (or copy themselves to other disks), they are not technically viruses. But because they can do harm, many experts consider them to be a type of virus. Trojan horses are often used as by hackers to create a back door to an infected system. Trojans, such as BackOrrifice are very dangerous. If anyone runs this program and his computer is connected to the internet, then the hacker can take control of that computer – transfer files to or from the computer, capture screen contents, run any program or kill any running process, etc.
Once a Trojan is installed onto the system this program has the same privileges as the user of the computer and can exploit the system to do something the user did not intend such as:
Delete files
Transmit to the intruder any files that the user can read
Change any files that the user can modify
Install other programs with the user’s privileges
Execute privilege-elevation attacks—the Trojan can attempt to exploit a weakness to raise the level of access beyond the user running the Trojan. If successful, the Trojan can operate with increased privileges.
Install viruses
Install other Trojans
The Following Tips Will Help The User To Minimize Virus Risk:
If the users are truly worried about traditional (as opposed to e-mail) viruses, they should be running a more secure operating system like UNIX. One should never hear about viruses on these operating systems because the security features keep viruses (and unwanted human visitors) away from the hard disk.
If the users are using an unsecured operating system, then buying virus protection software is a nice safeguard. Some popular anti virus programs include:
•McAfee Virus Scan
•Norton Anti Virus
•Virex
•PC—cillin
•Avast!
•AVG Anti Virus System
Automatic protection of anti-virus software should be turned on at all times.
The users should perform a manual scan (or schedule a scan to occur automatically) of their hard disks weekly. These scans supplement automatic protection and confirm that the computer is virus-free.
Scan all floppy disks before first use.
Disable floppy disk booting — most computers now allow the user to do this, and that will eliminate the risk of a boot sector virus coming in from a floppy disk accidentally left in the drive.
The users should Enable Automatic Update option of their anti-virus software in order to update their virus definition files.
Creation and maintenance of a rescue disk should be done by the user in order to facilitate recovery from certain boot viruses.
Periodic backups of the hard disk should be done.
Users’ should buy legal copies of all software they use and make write-protected backups.
 Email messages and email attachments from unknown people should not be opened. Attachments that come in as Word files (.DOC), spreadsheets (.XLS), images (.GIF and .JPG), etc., are data files and they can do no damage (noting the macro virus problem in Word and Excel documents mentioned above). A file with an extension like EXE, COM or VBS is an executable, and an executable can do any sort of damage it wants. Further it should be verified that the “author” of the email has sent the attachments. Newer viruses can send email messages that appear to be from a person user know.
The potential users should make sure that Macro Virus Protection is enabled in all Microsoft applications, and they should never run macros in a document unless they know specifically the functionality of the macros.
Appropriate Passwords should be assigned to the shared network drives.
Things that are not viruses!
Joke programs
Joke programs are not viruses and do not inflict any damage. Their purpose is to frighten their victims into thinking that a virus has infected and damaged their system. For example, a joke program may display a message warning the user not to touch any keys or else the computer’s hard disk will be formatted.
Droppers
A dropper is a program that is not a virus, nor is it infected with a virus but when run it installs a virus into memory on to the disk, or onto a file. Droppers have been written sometimes as a convenient carrier for a virus and sometimes as an act of sabotage.
Hoaxes
There must be very few people on email who haven’t received a chain letter with the subject line warning of a virus doing the rounds. These are often hoaxes and meant to scare people and have fun at their expense. The warnings encourage the recipient of the e-mail to pass the warning to the netizens and thus create an unnecessary furor, besides clogging mailboxes, as it usurps an air of credibility.
Methodology of virus detection applied by antivirus softwares:
Three main methods exist for detecting viruses: integrity checking (also known as checksumming), behavior monitoring and pattern matching (scanning).
Integrity checking
Antivirus programs that use integrity checking start by building an initial record of the status (size, time, date, etc.) of every application file on the hard drive. Using this data, checksumming programs then monitor the files to see if changes have been made. If the status changes, the integrity checker warns the user of a possible virus.
However, this method has several disadvantages, the biggest being that false alarms are altogether too common. The records used by checksumming programs are often rendered obsolete by legitimate programs, which, in their normal course of operations, make changes to files that appear to the Integrity checker to be viral activity. Another weakness of integrity checking is that it can only alert the user after a virus has infected the system.
Behavior monitoring
Behavior Monitoring programs are usually terminate and stay resident (TSR) and constantly monitor requests that are passed to the interrupt table. These programs are on the lookout for activities that a virus might engage in–requests to write to a boot sector, opening an executable program for writing, or placing itself resident in memory. The behavior these programs monitor is derived from a user-configurable set of rules.
Pattern matching
Using a process called “pattern matching,” the anti-virus software draws upon an extensive database of virus patterns to identify known virus signatures, or telltale snippets of virus code. Key areas of each scanned file are compared against the list of thousands of virus signatures that the anti-virus software has on record.
Whenever a match occurs, the anti-virus software takes the action the user has configured: Clean, Delete, Quarantine, Pass (Deny Access for Real-time Scan), or Rename.
Self Defense Mechanisms Evolved By Viruses
Virus authors of course wish that their child successfully lives. For this reason there are many viruses outfitted with some self-defense mechanisms against anti virus systems.
Passive Defense :
Viruses use a variety of methods to hide themselves from antivirus programs. Passive defense uses programming methods which make analysis of the virus more difficult, e.g. polymorphic viruses which were developed to counter scanners looking for constant strings of virus code.
Today antivirus systems are capable of analyzing polymorphic code and searching for virus identifiers in the decrypted body. The virus authors reacted by making the encryption too complex for antivirus software to unravel, thus mistaking it for a clean program.
Active Self-defense :
Viruses actively defend themselves by protecting their own code or by attempting to damage antivirus software. A simple method is to locate antivirus software databases and amend or delete them.
More sophisticated resident viruses use stealth techniques. When they detect a request to use an infected file, they can temporarily “clean” it or report its original (uninfected) parameters. They can monitor which programs are being executed and react if it is antivirus software. The list of such reactions is endless. Usually, the execution of the antivirus program is refused, but it could be erased (often accompanied by a bogus error message) or the virus suspends its activities while it runs. There are occasionally extremely ‘clever’ viruses which modify the code of a specific AV program to partially disable it.
There are very rare viruses which consider an attempt to run an anti-virus program as arrogant and immediately reply with some revenge action – for example hard disk formatting.
Trap
A trap is the most malicious form of self-defense and works as follows. Although the user’s computer is infected but everything appears to work correctly. Once the user discovers the virus and removes it things get complicated – programs no longer run properly or the hard disk may become inaccessible even when booting from a clean system diskette.
The best known trap virus is One_Half. It continuously encrypts the data on a hard disk (two tracks on every boot). If it is removed from the partition sector before data files are decoded then some files will become inaccessible. At this stage the situation is serious but recovery of the data is still possible. However, if the user runs a disk utility (Scandisk etc.) to repair the damage then the data will almost certainly be lost forever.
These utilities are designed to repair relatively minor damage to file system and do not recognize the encrypted data.
REFERENCE:
1. Mary Landesman “What is a virus?”
http://antivirus.about.com/cs/tutorials/a/whatisavirus.htm
2. NetGuide “What are computer viruses? “–
http://www.netguide.co.nz/knowhow/tutorials/print.php?iid=38
3. Marshall Brain “How Computer Viruses Work”
http://www.Howstuffworks How Computer Viruses Work.htm
4. AVG Anti Virus Free Edition Help
Developed by Grisoft Inc
5. Norton Anti-virus Help
Developed by Symantec Corporation
6. Trend Micro PC-cillin Help
Developed by Trend Micro Inc
7. Peter Norton “Computer Viruses”
Introduction to Computers, Tata McGraw Hill Co:
8. Dr.Solomon ”About Viruses” &”Virus Prevention”
Dr.Solomon’s Virus Encyclopedia, Dr.Solomon’s Software Ltd.
9. C.A.Schmidt ”Virus”
The Complete Computer Upgrade And Repair Text Book,Dreamtech
10. S.Jaiswal “Virus Detection And Elimination”
Information Technology Today, Galgotia Publication Pvt. Ltd. M.Com,M.C.A, Master in Multimedia Development (Equiv: M.E)
Lecturer-Pailan School of International Studies
Part time Lecturer -Prafulla Chandra Collegeswarovski crystals

Anti-virus software is software that you install on your computer so that you can be alerted when you have a virus. Anti-virus software will help to keep your computer safe against worms, viruses, Trojan horses, and other uninvited programs. The software can also help you clean your computer if you should happen to have a virus. The important thing to remember about anti-virus software is that you make sure to update it often so that you get the latest computer virus definitions installed into the software program. There is no point in having the anti-virus software if you’re not going to update it. You’ll be able to get updates from the vendor that sold you the anti-virus software, such as Norton. Many times you may already have anti-virus software on your computer in which case you be sure to uninstall it before installing your new software. To find out if you have virus software check under your Start menu to see if you one listed, such as McAfee or Norton. Keep in mind that just because you have anti-virus software already installed on your computer that it (1) might not be working, and (2) hasn’t been updated for a long time. Once you’ve installed anti-virus software on your computer you’re going to want to make sure that you use it correctly. Make sure that the settings in your computer automatically turn the anti-virus software on when you boot up your computer. You always want to be protected. If you’re downloading something off the Internet your anti-virus software will let you know if there is a problem. You can also use the anti-virus software to specifically scan any downloads, or files, that that have been sent to you via e-mail. If you are alerted that you have a virus your software will guide you with the right steps to removing it. Make sure that you don’t continue to use your computer until the virus, or worm that you have, is removed. You don’t want to send e-mail to friends and help in the spreading of the virus.     More Registry Repair Software TipsRegistry Defense 2009:
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