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The
Different Types of Computer Viruses & What They Can Do
Computer viruses are programs which are created with the sole
intent of disrupting the operation of a computer. These computer
viruses are usually placed into computers without the permission
or knowledge of the person who owns the computer. A computer virus
can cripple an entire computer system or simply cause some
problems which might be a minor or major annoyance to the computer
owner. This is a list of some of the more popular versions of
computer viruses:
Boot sector computer viruses
The boot sector viruses become a whole lot popular in the
eighties. This was when computer technology actually hit the
mainstream. Quite like the name, boot sector viruses infect the
boot sectors of a computer. These boot sectors are usually located
in the bootable disk or in particular location in your computer
hard drive. A number of these boot sector viruses in the past
include names such as Disk Killer and others like Michelangelo.
Email viruses
These sorts of viruses use e-mail in order to transmit viruses
from one computer to the other. Someone may send you an e-mail
that has an attachment that has a virus in it. When you open the
attachment your computer actually gets infected. Some of them
actually copy themselves to all the e-mail addresses in your
address book and forward themselves to everyone else that you
know. This way the virus gets to spread as quickly as it can. If
you want to avoid getting infected by viruses then you should
avoid opening e-mails from anyone that you don’t know. Some e-mail
programs actually now come with the capability to scan through
attachments with antivirus programs. They can easily identify any
virus programs before you even spot them. Some e-mail programs are
capable of separating e-mail files that are potential spam into
spam folders.
Companion viruses
These sorts of viruses usually affect your computer by infecting
your computers MS-DOS system. They operate by creating dangerous
program that looks like the other valid files that are on your
computer. If you enter the wrong command into the prompt of your
computer you may end up executing a virus instead of the program
that you really wanted to run. Newer operating systems like
Windows XP prevent such viruses as they don‘t require you to use
the MS-DOS prompt.
Trojan horse viruses
Trojan horse viruses are actually malware, they are usually
thought of as viruses because of the amount of damage that they
can do to your computer. These viruses are actually quite tricky,
they appear as something as innocuous as a screensaver. When you
install the screensaver you end up with a virus on your system.
The viruses may then leave a backdoor for hackers to enter into
your computer. When these hackers enter they can then proceed to
steal personal information such as bank account information,
credit card information, passwords or bank account information.
If you want to protect yourself from computer viruses such as the
types listed above. It is absolutely essential that you get the
best quality of protection software available. You may also want a
firewall that prevents other people accessing your computer when
you’re on a network.
Darren
Williger
http://www.networksecurity.ws |
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Latest Network
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