ONLINE SECURITY
Viruses
/ Worms /
Trojans
Definition
The word virus is often used to describe
three different types of computer infections: worms, trojans and viruses. These
are malicious programs that get installed on a computer, often without the
knowledge of the user, and can lead to privacy being invaded and/or data being
destroyed or corrupted on users’ hard drives.
These infections are primarily spread in
the following ways:
- Viruses: via e-mail attachments and file sharing
- Worms: by being connected to the Internet
without effective protection (read on for more info)
- Trojans: by visiting corrupted web sites
Symptoms of
Problems
Symptoms of an infected computer include:
- Computer is unstable and crashing frequently
- Slow Internet connection
- You receive a call from your Internet technical support
alerting you of the situation
Recommended
Solutions
- Install a virus-checking program, and keep it
up-to-date. It is worth noting that some viruses will disable virus
checkers and you may need to try a few different programs to find and
remove an infection.
- Links to some common virus checking
programs:
- Install a firewall or router (with firewall built in).
- Links to some common firewalls
programs:
- Microsoft provides free support for virus and Trojan
infection cleanup:
Tips
- Do not open e-mail from sources you are not expecting
- Do not open any attachments unless you are expecting
the file
- Have a good virus checking program that is kept
up-to-date
- Have a good firewall installed and running
Reference
Articles
www.cert.org/other_sources/viruses.html