Viruses and How to Avoid Them The defining characteristic of a computer virus is its ability to reproduce many times. Viruses fall into three main categories, depending on their method of invading the computer. - Boot sector viruses attach themselves to hard drive startup programs,
and the virus is executed each time the PC is turned on. These viruses can also infect floppy disks used in the computer, which is often the main source of spread.
- File viruses make their way into your computer when they are downloaded from the Internet, introduced by infected diskettes, or come by email attachments. These viruses work behind the scenes by attaching
themselves to certain files, and only activate when you run those particular infected applications.
- Macro viruses have been receiving the most press lately. The Melissa, I Love You and the New Love were all macro viruses. These are made to work within popular programs, often a Microsoft product since they dominate the software market. At Clickstream we do not use
Microsoft products to receive mail, because of this exact reason. While these viruses can also be spread by floppy disks, the main source of transmittal is through email attachments.
If you follow these suggestions a virus will be less likely to attack your computer: - Make sure to have virus protection software. They are readily available and reasonably priced. Once it's installed on your machines, update it each week. New viruses are constantly being reported, and virus software is only effective on those it was programmed to prevent.
- Make a boot floppy disk.
- Make periodical backups of important data and programs. In case of viral infections you will be able to restore to the original data.
- Avoid leaving a floppy disk inside a turned off PC's drive. Once turned on, your PC will look for the first
floppy's sector, and, in case of an infected disk, the virus will run.
- Downloading from Internet sites or sharing floppy disks also warrants caution. Many web sites post verification that their downloads are virus-free. When in doubt, download to a floppy and check for viruses later or skip the download. Scan all shared floppy disks with your virus software, even those
loaned by family or friends. While they may not intentionally pass a virus, not everyone shares the same diligence in keeping their computer clean.
- Emails can include attachments, possibly executable files. Everyone can send you, by email, inoffensive files, such as Word or Excel documents, but '.doc' files can be dangerous. These files don't run, but they can activate
viral macros when you try to read them. Never downloading from strangers has been made obsolete by the new viruses. A better rule is don't automatically download every attachment received, regardless of who sent it. This is where old technology, the telephone, comes in handy. Check out who sent you the attachment and why.
Information gathered from onlineathens.com, wowarea.com
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