A computer virus is a malicious computer program that, when executed by an unsuspecting human, performs tasks that primarily include replicating itself and in some cases deploying a payload.
A decade or so ago, viruses were pretty simple. They got into a system and infected a file or two. It was a basic as ordering coffee when coffee was easy to order. “One coffee pleaseblack.”
Today, the catalog of viruses you have to defend yourself against is frighteningly complex. In fact, it’s become as complex as, well, ordering coffee.
“Looks like you’ve been infected by a dropper that’s put a Trojan on your system, which deployed a multi-partite that opened a backdoor and also infected the master boot record.”
Sounds like an order at Starbucks, don’t you think?
These days a discussion about a virus can actually occur without using the word virus because sometimes viruses are worms or Trojan horses, which are virus-like nasties that act a little different than their infectious cousins.
Why are they called computer viruses? Well, because they have similar characteristics to biological viruses that infect humansin at least one way. The computer variety jumps from computer to computer much like a cold virus jumps from your kids to you and from you to your spouse.
Don’t let all this frighten you, though. It’s not that hard to figure out and defending your computer against viruses is pretty straightforward. Still, if the idea makes you queasy, skip ahead to the part of the chapter about how to easily protect yourself from viruses. But I hope you stick around because the more you know, the geekier you will be. Okay, not really. But understanding them makes them much less scary.
Viruses were one of the first real security threats people had to deal with when personal computers started appearing in homes a couple of decades ago. The first computer viruses were written in the 1980s; however, they really didn’t become a big threat until the late 1990s when everyone who owned a personal computer started connecting to the Internet.
Before then viruses spread via floppy disks or CDs. They would ride on the back of files stored on a disk or in the boot area of the floppy and replicate when the disk was inserted into the computer.
The Internet’s popularity has also become the chief reason that security on personal computers has become such a hot topic. A Net connection is the off-ramp from the Internet into your computer for all data. And guess what? For viruses it’s an express lane.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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More Registry Repair Software Tips
Registry 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.
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