A blog about anyInput, experiences running it, and thoughts about my day job

The danger of computer viruses lies in their ability to replicate themselves and spread from system to system. Most computer viruses are merely annoying — the most common reported by online volunteers are those that alter Microsoft Word macro functions, and those that attach meaningless files to emails. Viruses begin to work and spread when you start up the program or application of which the virus is present.

Antivirus programs perform two general functions: scanning for and removing viruses in files on disks, and monitoring the operation of your computer for virus-like activity (either known actions of specific viruses or general suspicious activity). Like viruses and similar programs called worms, modern malware copies itself onto unsuspecting computers via e-mail attachments, Web pages or more direct attacks. A virus is inactive until you execute an infected program or application OR start your computer from a disk that has infected system files. Viruses work the same ways in Windows or DOS machines by infecting zip or exe files.

Viruses are one of the several types of malicious software or malware. Viruses that are common in the wild are mostly relatively fast to extremely fast infectors. Although some viruses are merely disruptive, others can destroy or corrupt data or cause an operating system or applications program to malfunction. Viruses typically do this by avoiding suspicious programs, such as small program files or programs that contain certain patterns of ‘garbage instructions’

Several thousand computer viruses are known, and on average three to five new strains are discovered every day. Antivirus programs and hardware have been developed to combat viruses. A computer virus usually attaches or inserts itself to or in an executable file or the boot sector (the area that contains the first instructions executed by a computer when it is started or restarted) of a disk; those that infect both files and boot records are called bimodal viruses. In a common parlance, the term virus is often extended to refer to worms, trojan horses and other sorts of malware, however, this can confuse computer users, since viruses in the narrow sense of the word are less common than they used to be, compared to other forms of malware.

Viruses are written by anonymous programmers, often maliciously, and are spread on floppy disks, CD-ROMs, and via networks and e-mail attachments. Viruses are programmed to do a series of things: multiply, infect as many files as possible and then to launch some kind of attack. A fast-spreading, virus-like infection dramatically slowed Internet traffic, overwhelming the world’s digital pipelines and interfering with Web browsing and e-mail delivery. More comprehensive anti-virus and anti-spyware software installation will normally take longer as this involves lengthy examination of your entire computer (not just the hard-drive working area) and removal of various active and dormant files, programs etc.

Every computer user, whether connected to the Internet or not, should be protected by anti-virus and anti-adware software. A computer virus is simply a piece of software code that is written maliciously to cause problems on computer systems. Downloading files from the Internet leaves you very susceptible to viruses. The virus can be attached to an e-mail, even through a seemingly innocuous file such as a mage. In fact, most antivirus software packages now come with a default setting to automatically update the program via the internet with the latest protection.

The danger of computer viruses lies in their ability to replicate themselves and spread from system to system. Most computer viruses are merely annoying — the most common reported by online volunteers are those that alter Microsoft Word macro functions, and those that attach meaningless files to emails. Viruses begin to work and spread when you start up the program or application of which the virus is present.

A macro virus is a virus that exists as a macro attached to a data file. In most respects, macro viruses are like all other viruses. Many people do not think that viruses can reside on simple document files, but any application which supports document-bound macros that automatically execute is a potential haven for macro viruses. By the end of the last century, documents became more widely shared than diskettes, and document-based viruses were more prevalent than any other type of virus.

Antivirus programs perform two general functions: scanning for and removing viruses in files on disks, and monitoring the operation of your computer for virus-like activity (either known actions of specific viruses or general suspicious activity). Like viruses and similar programs called worms, modern malware copies itself onto unsuspecting computers via e-mail attachments, Web pages or more direct attacks. A virus is inactive until you execute an infected program or application OR start your computer from a disk that has infected system files. ] Viruses work the same ways in Windows or DOS machines by infecting zip or exe files.