SCOTT
COTTINGHAM,
www.famvid.com/i101
A computer virus is a program that invades your computer system,
hides there, and replicates (makes copies of) itself. Viruses
spread when you launch an infected application or start up
your computer from a disk that has infected system files.
Viruses
behave in different ways. Some viruses stay active in memory
until you turn off your computer. Other viruses stay active
only as long as the infected application is running. Turning
off your computer or exiting the application removes the
virus from memory, but does not remove the virus from the
infected file or disk.
Some
viruses are programmed specifically to damage the data on
your computer by corrupting programs, deleting files, or
erasing your entire hard disk.
All
computer viruses are man-made. A simple virus that can make
a copy of itself over and over again is relatively easy
to produce. Even such a simple virus is dangerous because
it will quickly use all available memory and bring the system
to a halt.
Trojan
horses are not viruses; however, they are often thought
of as viruses. A Trojan horse is a program that appears
to serve some useful purpose or provide entertainment, which
encourages you to run it. But, like the Trojan horse of
old, it also serves a covert purpose which may be to damage
files or perhaps plant a virus on your computer.
Many
computer viruses turn out to be hoaxes or myths. Hoaxes
are false alerts about viruses that don't exist. For a list
of hoaxes check out Hoax Warnings On The Run. Another good
site to visit is Computer Virus Myths.
We
highly recommend that you have Virus Protection installed
in your computer before you consider downloading anything.
Our
Favorite anti-viral Web sites
Dr. Solomon's Virus Solutions. This site will help
you fight the virus war with software, an encyclopedia,
primers alerts and research (www.drsolomon.com:80/home/home.cfm).
McAfee's Virus Info Library. This Web site includes
a virus-alert calendar, glossary and virus list by year
of discovery (http://www.mcafee.com).
Antivirus Online. IBM's online magazine, keeps you
up-to-date on the latest virus developments (http://www.av.ibm.com)
Symantec AntiVirus Research Center (SARC). Information
designed to prevent the spread of computer viruses and hoaxes
(http://www.symantec.com/avcenter).
Virus Encyclopedia. This site lets you search for
viruses by name or search through the virus universe alphabetically
(http://www.symantec.com/avcenter).
Virus FAQ. Compiled by contributors to VirusL's mailing
list and newsgroups, contains everything you might want
to know about viruses, and then some (http://www.icsa.net/services/consortia/anti-virus).
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