Learn about Viruses
Even before one gets to know about the working of a technology or a gadget, he becomes cautious about the pitfalls or risks that come along with it. This fact also holds true for computer viruses. They are the most dreaded form of discrepancy that could occur during computer usage and affects almost all of us during our computer sessions. Let’s analyze what exactly a computer virus is and why it is a source of dread for computer users all over the world.
Computer Virus – What is the panic all about?
Well, a virus is simply a degrading application created to breach your system’s security measures and enter it, with the intent of causing harm to it. The worst part of this is that a virus performs all this, while being itself on stealth, without the user detecting its activities, most of the times. It has the ability to perform analogous functions just like a physical virus and it can replicate the files stored in your system and transfer it-self while you transfer your files to other systems.
Digital viruses were born when the electronic bulletin boards and personal computer became a limelight during late 1980’s. This was the time when floppy discs were used as storage structures for programs and word processing files and the viruses were programmed on these discs. With the transfer of these discs from one system to the other, the viruses were able to multiple and breed it-selves.
Who Is The Creator?
Well, there could be multiple authors who are responsible for the viruses out there; each of them has their own set of reasons for doing so. Some viruses are an expression of technical ability; others might be retaliation to certain injustice done to professionals, citizens or consumers. There are still others who perceive creating viruses as some sort of a feat. The feat could be making it to the internet history records for causing wide spread damage, or weakening their competitors in any field.
Why are viruses so scary?
The viruses of today have evolved pretty much from their ancestral viruses, prevalent a few decades ago. The internet has proven to be a detour for the new age of viruses to breed and spread in your systems. These days, your system may get infected through mail attachments, spam or even the earliest means-transfer of storage devices such as discs.
The ill – effects of these viruses are pretty evident – spans of unavailability of computer or even crash of the entire hard drive in worst cases. Certain deadly viruses like the Melissa virus have the ability to duplicate themselves into the first 50 contacts of your email address. The Melissa virus dispatches itself automatically to your contacts using your address and when someone your trust opens it, it astonishes them with its genuine ability. On the professional point of view, these viruses may leads to heavy losses to companies, owing to unavailability of their websites because of such virus could cost the victimized company thousands or even millions a day.
Viruses have a multi-dimensional degrading effect on your system. Certain viruses target boot sectors on your hard drives, there are still others that affect executable files. Another deadly virus known as a macro virus prefers to infect the macros contained in data files. This is where commands and instructions are inherently stored; a breach to these macros caused by a virus is fatal for the sound operation of your computer. Still others known as multi – partite viruses effect file systems as well as boot sectors on your personal computer.
Is my computer to a home to these viruses?
A system infected by these viruses shows a lot of signs and symptoms. You just have to be on the look out for any suspicious signs. These might appear in the form of strange messages, incomplete execution of programs and applications or strange sounds that should raise an alarm.
Well then, how to avoid this condition? The very first thing to do is to install an anti – virus software on your computer. This would be the first hand cover against virus attacks. It is also essential to keep your anti – virus software updated from time to time, in order to get improved protection. Performing weekly virus scans on your system would ensure the detection of even the smallest virus lurking around your system. Opening suspicious emails is strictly not recommended. Try to back-up some important data more frequently, in order to prevent data loss in case of a virus attack.
Virus detected!!!What should I do now?
Detected a virus residing in your computer? Do not fret about the condition. There are many options at hand for you. First of all, exhibit some courtesy and inform your contacts about your computer present condition.
This should be followed by cleaning your hard drives as well as file systems using an anti-virus software. The next thing to worry about is to retrieve all important data and store it in an external hard-drive. It would also be very useful to take some help from a suitable technician, in order to bail your system out from this malicious situation.
Well if none of these tricks seem to work, you have to take the drastic step of formatting your system. But make sure you retrieve all important data before this.