Many people have
Anti-Virus software installed. Many of the major
Anti-Virus software company's now promote what they
call "Security Suites" or packages. These Security
Suites contain everything from Anti-Virus, Firewall
Protection, SPAM and Pop-Up blockers, and Ad-ware
protection. Quite often, once the software is installed
people find out that things they use to be able to do
on the Internet are no longer possible. So what happens
is portions or all of the software they purchased to
protect their computer get disabled. The result, an
ineffective software program that you paid good money
for! Worst than that, most people have no idea exactly
how the Anti-Virus portion of the package should be
configured. Leaving it up to the default configuration
to defend their computers. Most of the manuals that
come with these software packages seem to be written
for those who understand the intricate workings of
computers along with every computer acronym ever
invented!
Most everyone who owns
a computer knows about viruses. Years ago,
viruses were more of an annoyance than anything.
But as time passed those who develop viruses became
more astute at their trade and started developing
viruses with malicious intent.
It's amazing that we
regularly find computers without any anti-virus
protection at all. Typically, those who do not,
find out rather quickly how important virus protection
is. In addition to the many computers we find
without virus protection, we find many computers do not
have the anti-virus software configured and running
properly to protect them from even the most basic type
of infection.
What is a
Virus?
A virus is a type of
program that can execute on your computer and has the
ability to replicate itself. Computer viruses,
like biological viruses, spread quickly and in many
cases , are quite difficult to stop and destroy.
They can attach themselves to many types of
files. As these files are transferred between
multiple computers each computer along the away becomes
infected and has the ability to continue spreading the
infection.
What is a
Trojan?
A Trojan is software
that can perform unauthorized tasks on your
computer. More often than not, these tasks are
malicious in nature. The biggest difference
between a trojan and a virus is that Viruses have the
ability to replicate whereas a Trojan typically does
not. If your computer becomes infected with a
Trojan it can cause;
Damage to your
computers software, Operating System, and
data;
Your system can
become unstable and exhibit unexpected
behavior;
The security of your
system becomes compromised;
It could lead to the
unauthorized access of your computer;
Beware programs and
software in pretty packages (for free usually).
Remember what happen to the Trojan's of Greek
Mythology!
What is
Malware?
The word "Malware" is short
for "Malicious Software". It refers to any
software or programs with malicious intent such as
viruses, Trojans, worms, droppers, and kits. Just
as a note, not all Malware should be considered a virus
but the majority can be considered as
such.
What can a
Virus do to me?
There are many
malicious actions a virus, worm, or general Malware can
take. Just a few examples are;
Change or delete
important data on your computer such as documents,
music and video files, and possibly destroy all data
on your computer;
Search for important
information such as contact lists and use this
information to replicate itself by sending everyone
in your contact lists an e-mail with the virus/worm
attached;
Spread amongst all
your computers in various methods such as e-mail and
file sharing;
Disguise itself as a
legitimate part of the Operating System - making it
very difficult to detect and destroy;
and just about anything
else malicious you can think up!
Virus Life
Cycle
Creation - In the past it took
significant skill to create a virus. However,
anyone with even basic skills can create a
virus. In fact, there are virus creation labs
freely available on the Internet. This can
allow anyone to create interesting and potentially
malicious code;
Replication - If one of the main
goals of the virus developer is the replication or
spread of the virus, many viruses will lay dormant
and wait for a certain event to take place like a
date something similar. This allows the virus
to replicate to many systems before it
activates;
Activation - Once certain
requirements or conditions are met, the virus will
activate itself and execute the code that causes
damage to your computer. Not all virus cause
damage. Non-damaging virus usually do not need
activation;
Identification - Once the virus
has infected computers and activated themselves in
the wild (on your computer), they are isolated and
documented and sent to the anti-virus
companies;
Recognition - The anti-virus
companies then develop the code necessary to detect
the virus, update their virus signature patterns, and
make them available to their customers. This
process can be rather quick or can take days or
months;
Destruction - If enough people
are protected by anti-virus software that can detect,
isolate, and destroy the virus, it can be stopped
from spreading;
Based on current
information and statistics no virus has yet to be
completely eradicated!
How do I
Protect my Computer?
The most
obvious thing that you can do is install anti-virus
software. In fact, this is not so much an
option as it is a requirement. That is if you
want to be protected and not A) lose everything you
have on your computer, B) spread viruses to your
friends, family and associates, C) be a productive part
of the public network (Internet) community.
In addition, you need
to make sure that your anti-virus software is
functioning properly;
Make sure that your
anti-virus subscription is not out of date. In
some cases, if your subscription is out of date, the
product ceases to function or can no longer download
new virus patterns. Preventing it from
detecting the latest viruses;
If you receive an
unsolicited piece of e-mail do not open it.
Delete the e-mail right away;
Many e-mail clients
have the ability to give you a preview of the e-mail
before actually opening it. If your e-mail
client is configured this way, turn it off.
This can actually allow the virus to activate the
moment you highlight the e-mail;
If you receive
e-mail from a friend or associate that you were not
expecting, or one that has an odd subject line like
"Subject: The pictures I promised you!" or "The
program you requested", contact your fiend and ask
them if they actually sent it;
Configure you
anti-virus software to check for virus pattern
updates on a frequent basis. Checking once a
week is probably not good enough. At the very
least, configure it to check at least once a
day. Our systems check more frequently than
that;
Make sure your
anti-virus software is configured to perform a
scheduled scan of your computer. Many people
rely on the "real-time" scanning which is suppose to
catch viruses in real-time as you select and open
files. This is not 100% accurate and nothing
substitutes for a thorough manual scan of "all" your
system files;
Don't rely on
anti-virus software alone. Make sure that you
are using some sort of anti ad-ware and spy-ware
software. These programs can catch a plethora
of malicious software that your anti-virus software
may miss.
Conclusion
All it takes is one bad
experience with a damaging virus to make you realize
how vulnerable you and your computers are. Be
diligent in your defense against Malware and your
computer / Internet experience will be more
enjoyable. The same goes for small and medium
sized business. Those who have been down for a
day or days as the result of a virus will know exactly
what I am talking about.
