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Virus Protection

What is a Computer Virus?

Viruses - A computer virus is executable code that, when run by someone, infects or attaches itself to other executable code in a computer in an effort to reproduce itself. Some computer viruses are malicious, erasing files or locking up systems; others merely present a problem solely through the act of infecting other code. In either case, though, computer virus infections should not go untreated.
 

E-mail viruses - An e-mail virus moves around in e-mail messages, and usually replicates itself by automatically mailing itself to dozens of people in the victim's e-mail address book.
 

Worms - A worm is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the network for another machine that has a specific security hole. It copies itself to the new machine using the security hole, and then starts replicating from there, as well.
 

Trojan horses - A Trojan Virus is a program that performs an undesired action while pretending to performs a desired action. One common class of trojans are fake login programs - which collects accounts and passwords by prompting for this info just like a normal login program does. Another is a disk defragger that erases files rather than reorganizing them.

Virus Prevention Guidelines for the Home

1.  Make sure your computer runs anti-virus software. If not, buy and install it immediately.

4.  Regularly back up your files. Should your system become infected, you won't lose your valuable data.