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What are Computer Viruses, Worms and Trojans?
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Viruses are small programs with the characteristic feature of being able to reproduce itself, spreading throughout the computer system. In addition, many computer viruses also contain some form of destructive code which can be activated under specific conditions.
A worm is similar in nature to a virus with the added characteristic of spreading itself through network interfaces to infect other systems.
A trojan is a malicious program that often masquerades as a legitimate application or file. Examples include fake music and picture files attached to emails. Once activated, the trojan can open a backdoor into your system and/or infect your system with a virus or worm.
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How could my Computer become Infected?
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The Internet Storm Center has predicted that an un-patched and un-protected computer system will survive un-infected for just 20 minutes when connected to the internet. Even systems kept up to date with the latest patches and updates are still exposed to this intense probing for security flaws and holes, and despite the intense efforts of vendors to keep up with the attackers, their efforts continue to lag behind.
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How do I Protect Myself from Viruses, Worms and Trojans?
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The best way to protect yourself is to have effective anti-virus software scanning your system as you access files, this anti-virus software’s signature files must be kept as up to date as possible, and a regular schedule of complete system scans should be maintained.
Additional to this defence, a proactive approach should be taken in avoiding common ways that systems are compromised.
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Jason’s PC Services offers Anti-Virus Advice and Virus Removal
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Choosing an effective anti-virus solution is one critical step in the security of your valuable data, research and advice can be invaluable to an effective choice.
Cleaning an infected system can sometimes be impossible as viruses replicate themselves throughout your system; it would be well worth the effort to try and save your valuable data before resorting to wiping and reinstalling your system.
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