The All-Consuming Virus!

Viruses are the bane of all computer users around the world. Windows users (And Mac Users to a lesser extent) have been constantly plagued by computer viruses everyday. What is scary about computer viruses is that new ones pop up very few days. In this age of rapid information exchange, no one can be sure of their immunity to viruses.Today, we will find out more about the computer virus as well as methods of prevention.

First off, let's find out what viruses are!


So viruses are self-replicating programs that may or may not cause damage to your computer. Some viruses are harmless, usually the product of a high-school kid who was just tinkering around with code.
Other viruses are not so innocent. They invade hard disks, cause malfunction and even overwrite BIOS settings, causing widespread, sometimes irreversible damage to computer systems.
Here are some viruses that have caused plenty of havok in their lifetimes...

1) Jerusalem (1987) ... one of the earliest and most successful viruses activated each year on Friday the 13th — either displaying a message or deleting any programs that ran on the day. The virus, dubbed Jerusalem, installed itself in the target computer's memory when an infected file was opened

2) Stoned (1987) ... old viruses never die — that was the warning from anti-virus experts after the Stoned virus resurfaced in 2007, a full 13 years after it was written. The Stoned — or Marijuana — virus became widespread in the early 1990s. It was the most successful virus in terms of number of infections, infiltrating hard drives and the boot sector of floppy disks.

3) Netsky/32-P (2006) A Mass Email worm that copied itself to your hard drive and then sent it self to all your Email contacts!

4) W32/Nyxem-D (2006), a worm, which turns off anti-virus programs on an infected computer, sends itself to e-mail addresses on an infected computer, deletes files off the computer, and forges the sender's e-mail address. It also uses its own e-mailing engine, downloads code from the Internet; reduces system security, and installs itself in the registry

5) W32/Mytob-FO (2006). Another Worm! It is spread through e-mail attachments. The worm turns off anti-virus software on an infected computer. It allows others access to an infected computer, modifies data on a computer, forges a sender's e-mail address, and installs itself on the registry.

I have only named 5 viruses. However, there are literally millions of viruses out there in cyberspace. For more information and detaied lists of their various effects, go to http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/threatexplorer/threats.jsp for more information.

Why are viruses dangerous?
Viruses can potentially cause entire business systems to fail and render critical systems in government to fail. This is very dangerous and can cause people to lose jobs, bank accounts and even their lives. Therefore, it is important to remember to protect ourselves from viruses.



Now that we know how to protect ouselves... we should remember not to too much about viruses. We must remember that computer viruses, like real viruses, will always be around. As long as we practise careful surfing habits, we should be fine. Remember: Never be paralysed by fear.

Until then.. toodlepips!