A computer is a machine. It handles a lot of information. Many places use computers to help them work better. Someone sent a computer virus to a lot of computers. A computer virus is a set of bad instructions written just to hurt computers.
Someone made the virus and sent it to other computers. It was set to turn on by itself. When it did, many computers around the world began to have problems.
When the virus is turned on, it makes the computer do things it is not supposed to do. Many computers started filling up with a lot of useless information. Several computer projects were in trouble. One project that will have to be stopped has already spent millions of dollars.
People started turning off their computers. Others stopped their computers from being hooked up to other computers. The virus was spread by having computers share information with each other. Once in the computer, it takes over and tells the computer to do harmful things.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Dealing with virus infections:
First, keep in mind "Nick's First Law of Computer Virus Complaints": "Just because your computer is acting strangely or one of your programs doesn't work right, this does NOT mean that your computer has a virus." 1. If you haven't used a good, up-to-date anti-virus program on your computer, do that first. Many problems blamed on viruses are actually caused by software configuration errors or other problems that have nothing to do with a virus. 2. If you do get infected by a virus, follow the directions in your anti-virus program for cleaning it. If you have backup copies of the infected files, use those to restore the files. Check the files you restore to make sure your backups weren't infected. 3. For assistance, check the web site and support services for your anti-virus software. 4. The "[alt.comp.virus] FAQ Part 1/4" (see below) includes an excellent section on initial steps for dealing with a suspected virus infection. 5. For discussions about viruses and help dealing with them, visit or <news:comp.virus>; please check the newsgroup FAQs before posting. Keep in mind that posters in c.v and in a.c.v, like posters in any newsgroup, have a wide range of technical expertise and motivations. Note: in general, drastic measures such as formatting your hard drive or using FDISK should be avoided. They are frequently useless at cleaning a virus infection, and may do more harm than good unless you're very knowledgeable about the effects of the particular virus you're dealing with.
Read more:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/#ixzz0ZYldAUIm
Read more:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/#ixzz0ZYldAUIm
What can I do to reduce the chance of getting viruses from E-mail?
Treat any file attachments that might contain executable code as carefully as you would any other new files: save the attachment to disk and then check it with an up-to-date virus scanner before opening the file. If your E-mail or news software has the ability to automatically execute JavaScript, Word macros, or other executable code contained in or attached to a message, I strongly recommend that you disable this feature. My personal feeling is that if an executable file shows up unexpectedly attached to an E-mail, you should delete it unless you can positively verify what it is, who it came from, and why it was sent to you. The recent outbreak of the Melissa virus was a vivid demonstration of the need to be extremely careful when you receive E-mail with attached files or documents. Just because an E-mail appears to come from someone you trust, this does NOT mean the file is safe or that the supposed sender had anything to do with it.
Read more:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/#ixzz0ZYlSxSV7
Read more:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/#ixzz0ZYlSxSV7
What's the story on viruses and E-mail?
You can't get a virus just by reading a plain-text E-mail message or Usenet post. What you have to watch out for are encoded messages containing embedded executable code (i.e., JavaScript in an HTML message) or messages that include an executable file attachment (i.e., an encoded program file or a Word document containing macros). In order to activate a virus or Trojan horse program, your computer has to execute some type of code. This could be a program attached to an E-mail, a Word document you downloaded from the Internet, or something received on a floppy disk. There's no special hazard in files attached to Usenet posts or E-mail messages: they're no more dangerous than any other file.
Read more:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/#ixzz0ZYkOrMMB
Read more:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/#ixzz0ZYkOrMMB
What is a Trojan horse program?
A type of program that is often confused with viruses is a 'Trojan horse' program. This is not a virus, but simply a program (often harmful) that pretends to be something else. For example, you might download what you think is a new game; but when you run it, it deletes files on your hard drive. Or the third time you start the game, the program E-mails your saved passwords to another person. Note: simply downloading a file to your computer won't activate a virus or Trojan horse; you have to execute the code in the file to trigger it. This could mean running a program file, or opening a Word/Excel document in a program (such as Word or Excel) that can execute any macros in the document.
Read more:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/#ixzz0ZYkGAmNk
Read more:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/#ixzz0ZYkGAmNk
What do viruses do to computers?
Viruses are software programs, and they can do the same things as any other programs running on a computer. The actual effect of any particular virus depends on how it was programmed by the person who wrote the virus. Some viruses are deliberately designed to damage files or otherwise interfere with your computer's operation, while others don't do anything but try to spread themselves around. But even the ones that just spread themselves are harmful, since they damage files and may cause other problems in the process of spreading. Note that viruses can't do any damage to hardware: they won't melt down your CPU, burn out your hard drive, cause your monitor to explode, etc. Warnings about viruses that will physically destroy your computer are usually hoaxes, not legitimate virus warnings.
Read more:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/#ixzz0ZYkAaISX
Read more:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/#ixzz0ZYkAaISX
How do viruses spread?
When you execute program code that's infected by a virus, the virus code will also run and try to infect other programs, either on the same computer or on other computers connected to it over a network . And the newly infected programs will try to infect yet more programs. When you share a copy of an infected file with other computer users, running the file may also infect their computers; and files from those computers may spread the infection to yet more computers. If your computer is infected with a boot sector virus, the virus tries to write copies of itself to the system areas of floppy disks and hard disks. Then the infected floppy disks may infect other computers that boot from them, and the virus copy on the hard disk will try to infect still more floppies. Some viruses, known as 'multipartite' viruses, can spread both by infecting files and by infecting the boot areas of floppy disks.
Read more:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/#ixzz0ZYk57IQo
Read more:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/#ixzz0ZYk57IQo
Symptoms of a computer virus
If you suspect or confirm that your computer is infected with a computer virus, obtain the current antivirus software. The following are some primary indicators that a computer may be infected:
- The computer runs slower than usual.
- The computer stops responding, or it locks up frequently.
- The computer crashes, and then it restarts every few minutes.
- The computer restarts on its own. Additionally, the computer does not run as usual.
- Applications on the computer do not work correctly.
- Disks or disk drives are inaccessible.
- You cannot print items correctly.
- You see unusual error messages.
- You see distorted menus and dialog boxes.
- There is a double extension on an attachment that you recently opened, such as a .jpg, .vbs, .gif, or .exe. extension.
- An antivirus program is disabled for no reason. Additionally, the antivirus program cannot be restarted.
- An antivirus program cannot be installed on the computer, or the antivirus program will not run.
- New icons appear on the desktop that you did not put there, or the icons are not associated with any recently installed programs.
- Strange sounds or music plays from the speakers unexpectedly.
- A program disappears from the computer even though you did not intentionally remove the program.
Symptoms of worms and trojan horse viruses in e-mail messages
When a computer virus infects e-mail messages or infects other files on a computer, you may notice the following symptoms:
- The infected file may make copies of itself. This behavior may use up all the free space on the hard disk.
- A copy of the infected file may be sent to all the addresses in an e-mail address list.
- The computer virus may reformat the hard disk. This behavior will delete files and programs.
- The computer virus may install hidden programs, such as pirated software. This pirated software may then be distributed and sold from the computer.
- The computer virus may reduce security. This could enable intruders to remotely access the computer or the network.
- You receive an e-mail message that has a strange attachment. When you open the attachment, dialog boxes appear, or a sudden degradation in system performance occurs.
- Someone tells you that they have recently received e-mail messages from you that contained attached files that you did not send. The files that are attached to the e-mail messages have extensions such as .exe, .bat, .scr, and .vbs extensions.
Symptoms that may be the result of ordinary Windows functions
A computer virus infection may cause the following problems:
- Windows does not start even though you have not made any system changes or even though you have not installed or removed any programs.
- There is frequent modem activity. If you have an external modem, you may notice the lights blinking frequently when the modem is not being used. You may be unknowingly supplying pirated software.
- Windows does not start because certain important system files are missing. Additionally, you receive an error message that lists the missing files.
- The computer sometimes starts as expected. However, at other times, the computer stops responding before the desktop icons and the taskbar appear.
- The computer runs very slowly. Additionally, the computer takes longer than expected to start.
- You receive out-of-memory error messages even though the computer has sufficient RAM.
- New programs are installed incorrectly.
- Windows spontaneously restarts unexpectedly.
- Programs that used to run stop responding frequently. Even if you remove and reinstall the programs, the issue continues to occur.
- A disk utility such as Scandisk reports multiple serious disk errors.
- A partition disappears.
- The computer always stops responding when you try to use Microsoft Office products.
- You cannot start Windows Task Manager.
- Antivirus software indicates that a computer virus is present.
How to remove a computer virus
Even for an expert, removing a computer virus can be a difficult task without the help of computer virus removal tools. Some computer viruses and other unwanted software, such as spyware, even reinstall themselves after the viruses have been detected and removed. Fortunately, by updating the computer and by using antivirus tools, you can help permanently remove unwanted software.
To remove a computer virus, follow these steps:
To remove a computer virus, follow these steps:
- Install the latest updates from Microsoft Update on the computer.
- Update the antivirus software on the computer. Then, perform a thorough scan of the computer by using the antivirus software.
- Download, install, and then run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool to remove existing viruses on the computer. To download the Malicious Software Removal Tool, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
How to obtain computer virus and security-related support
The computer safety team is available for computer virus and for other security-related support 24 hours a day in the United States and in Canada.
To obtain computer virus and security-related support, follow these steps:
To obtain computer virus and security-related support, follow these steps:
- Before you contact a support engineer, make sure that you run updated antivirus software and updated spyware removal software on the infected computer.
For more information about how to obtain a free computer safety scan, visit the following Microsoft Web site:For more information about antispyware software, visit the following Microsoft Web site: - Call 1-866-PCSAFETY or call 1-866-727-2338 to contact security support.
How to protect your computer against viruses
To protect your computer against viruses, follow these steps:
- On the computer, turn on the firewall.
- Keep the computer operating system up-to-date.
- Use updated antivirus software on the computer.
- Use updated antispyware software on the computer.
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