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All About Viruses, Trojans and Worms What they are, How you get them, How get rid of them and How to Avoid Them Mellissa, Klez Worm ,Blaster, Sobig .These all are names of Viruses, Trojans and Worms and their purpose are. Is to turn your computer experience into something you regret. However it need not be that way, just a little common sense precautions. Can stem what would be a disaster into an event you can easily avoid. First what are Viruses, Trojans and Worms ? And How did they come about ? Well, I will try to explain. The first virus you might say was created by defense department research. It was an offshoot in artificial Intelligence that wanted to create a program. That would modify itself, be able to create copies of itself and change itself to avoid detection. However, just like many good ideas, some individuals perverted it to create havoc. A virus can infect a machine usually though an "attachment" in an email. This attachment , a program, turns out to be the installer for a virus. When run can infect the machine causing it to perform some operation such as going to your address book and to sending out copies of itself. It can also do other things depending on its instructions (referred to as the "payload") . Some of these are quite harmless ,many a time putting up some message or a graphic. Some others are quite dangerous (Erasing your hard drive, or erasing your bios that will cripple your PC and So On.) In some cases it may even be helpful ( There was a MSBlaster2 virus that when run erased the original Blaster worm, and patched the hole in your Internet Browser that allowed that worm to run in the first place.) . As a general rule It is good not to get it in the first place. A Trojan or a Worm are programs that are something other that it is claim to be. (Downloading music from some bandit internet sites are the number one place where these are located). You can innocently download and install a file .Thinking you are getting some great game, song or some other software. When it turns out it can open your PC to Hackers. Allow someone to search and scan your most valuable data. (Credit Cards ,Bank accounts, passwords and so on). Erase your hard drive, track your surfing habits etc. It can even allow someone to get control of your computer .So that it can be used along with other similarly situated computers to launch a "denial of service" attack on another mainframe computer. This is how Ebay ,Amazon were temporally shut down last year. Causing millions of dollars in damage and lost revenues. Both Viruses, Trojans and Worms usually get into a computer though an email with a Topic. Such as "Check out this great game" "I would like your opinion on this" When you open the attachment and run it, its to late you got it. Other schemes include a recent email that made like it came from Microsoft when it did not . (This technique is called "spoofing") In that message it said that your browser was subject to a security breech and you need this patch that is in the attachment. The attachment turns out not to be a patch at all but, the Sobig virus instead. Other spoof emails may seem like it came from your bank ,ebay , credit card, paypal, etc. With a message saying your account security has been compromised .And that you need to click on this link to verify your account user name and password. DO NOT ,DO NOT !!!!!! Ebay, Banks, Paypal and others will NEVER send email requesting your user name and password. This is done by scam artists who wish to steal your identity and rip you off !!!
So how do avoid these pitfalls. Follow the steps below.
For other security tips check out Top 10 Email Hoaxes ,Internet Security Tips And finally if you are a victim go to this site to File a complaint Internet Fraud Complaint If you have questions or wish to suggest a future topic. Feel free to drop me a line.
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