Computer Viruses and How to Avoid Them

Hello and welcome to Digital Obsession’s first TipWizard!  This week we’ll be doing a quick overview of computer viruses:

DEFINITIONS:

A computer “virus” is a program that ‘infects’ other programs and files on your computer.  It does this by making copies of itself and attaching itself to other programs.  As more programs and files are used on your computer, they become infected as well. 

When you pass on infected programs to others (via e-mail, diskette, or a shared network drive) in turn, their programs and files will become infected as well.

In many respects a computer virus behaves just a like a “real” virus such as the flu or the common cold.  That’s why they’re called “computer viruses”.  Some computer viruses are pretty harmless.  Some are just annoying.  Others can seriously damage your programs; data files and even your computer.

Note: All computer viruses are created by human beings.  That is, someone sat down and took the time to program them.  There’s nothing biological about a computer virus.  Your computer can’t catch the real “flu” but it can catch a computer virus written by a programmer.

There are two other terms associated with computer viruses; “worms” and “Trojan Horses”.  I’ll go over them below, but for the rest of this TipWizard we’ll refer to all these types a “viruses”.

A “worm” is a form of a virus that doesn’t attach itself to other programs, but does replicate itself.  In other words, a worm doesn’t need a program to act as “host” in order to infect systems.  While worms don’t harm computer files they can bring down computer systems but replicating themselves so much the computer is overwhelmed and can no longer function. 

A “Trojan horse” isn’t a virus at all.  It doesn’t attach itself to programs and it doesn’t replicate itself.  It’s program that comes to you disguised as something else --- like a game or other fun program --- but really does something pretty destructive like deleting all your files.  Most Anti-virus software also checks for Trojan horses as well.

AVOIDING VIRUSES

Ok, enough of the overview let’s get to some tips.  Here’s five ways to protect your-self from viruses:

1.  Get yourself some Anti-Virus software --- and use it.

Most new computers these days come with this installed already.  Chances are you probably won’t even have to spend any $$$ for this added protection.  I’ll go into a little more detail about Anti-virus software later on in this TipWizard.

2.  Be careful with strange e-mail attachments.

If you receive an unsolicited e-mail from someone you don’t know with a file attached to it... you should delete it!  If you receive any e-mail that looks suspicious then don’t open any attachments.

Note: A virus cannot infect you just by “reading” your e-mail.  As long as you don’t ‘open’ or ‘double-click’ on the attached files, your computer will not be infected.

3.  Watch where you download files from.

If you download a lot of shareware and freeware programs off of the ‘net make sure you download it from a reliable site such as ZDNet and Download.com.  The authors web site is usually the best place as your getting the file directly from the source.

4.  Avoid pirated software.

Pirated software is illegal, which is a good enough reason to avoid it.  However a lot of CD-ROM’s that contain scores of “legally questionable” software are sold through on-line auctions or through computer shows/flea markets.  Many of these CD’s are infected with the viruses and Trojans.  It pays to stay legit!

5.  Be mindful of public computers.

Schools, colleges and universities are hotbeds for viruses --- simply by the fact that so many different people use them.  Other places like libraries and copy/business centers are also at a higher risk.  Many of these places have anti-virus software installed on their computers... but you should still be careful.

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