10/26/07

How to guard against PC viruses

Whether we use the computer for simple functions such as typing our homework and management reports, the most important acts, such as business meetings and online transactions, we can not deny that computers are a significant part in our daily lives.

The use of a computer, especially the Internet, is a task that even a ten-year period may do so at that particular period in time.

With the increasing popularity and increasing reliance on information technology and the demand for it, security risks have also increased, which is a reality that can not be ignored. With billions of bits of information over the World Wide Web, hackers and intruders (criminals), see the value in focusing their attention on computers and the Internet. The information they retrieve it is (usually) more useful than when it is the former.

As such, these intruders have developed some methods to obtain information for computer users, with or without these people knowing that they were cut into. As is the case in real life, there are computer programs that are disguised innocent, but in fact act as spies, providing information to the intruder. These malicious programs, which are threats to security are called computer viruses.

Computer viruses should not be taken lightly. They work in many different ways; One of them may be to provide data to the person who planted the virus. Other viruses can be annoying - just slow down your computer, files unwanted building, etc.; While some can be very disruptive, such as deleting your hard drive, compromising your operating system, etc.

As such, there are different types of viruses that normally differ in the way they function and how they are distributed. They include Trojan horses, worms, viruses email, and logic bombs. It would be important to know these types of viruses in an effort to better protect yourself against them, as well as to have the right to get rid of programs.

The Trojans are simply computer program that can not happen again, but it can do damage minimal from anywhere extremely dangerous. It is usually masquerades as a common file (perhaps a file. MP3 music or file. JPEG image file), but no damage when the computer user opens. That's why you should take extra care when opening the search for suspicious files: it could very well be a Trojan horse.

Worms are self-reproducing programs that mainly use security holes in order to propagate across the network itself. If your computer is infected with a worm and is able to reproduce a number of times, it causes your computer to slow down significantly because it uses your computer resources and memory to do so. They often use security vulnerabilities in the operating systems (such as Windows), to reproduce to self-determination.

Email viruses are explicit: they spread by e-mail. Once a user opens the infected email, which he usually does send itself to other users via e-mail addresses in the address book of the user. Because it uses e-mail and a lot of people without really open emails or under scrutiny, it spreads very quickly throughout the world and can cause chaos in a few days.

Bombs are logical viruses that target applications, causing them to crash (such as Windows). It can also be spread by email or innocently downloading it off the Internet. It can cause a lot of damage (especially if it infects Windows and others), or only a small amount (short program).

Fortunately for computer users, there are anti-virus programs available, whether through the Internet or the computer at the store. These programs are targeted specifically at thousands of viruses and wipe them from your own system (if infected), or guard against attacks (if not yet infected).

Anti-virus programs are updated regularly (usually every day), because there are always new virus definitions every day, and you can be infected by the new virus. These software developers are always looking on the latest viruses to make sure you, the user, are protected against the virus as much as possible. Your PC safety and security are still under consideration.

FREE Software Malware Removal Tool (download)