PC Killer - Computer Viruses

In the ever expanding computer universe, we are facing a new global threat - one that is threatening the indispensable tool of our modern society - The Computer.

The application that our computer run and the data and documents that they store are being attacked, they are being damaged and corrupted and almost every other day we have a snag in our computer systems. Today computer are ubiquitous - they are everywhere from somebody’s home to a big bank. In schools and colleges, in hospitals and hostels. These computers run software like windows operating systems, Internet Explorer and Microsoft applications, to name only a few of the popular ones.

Millions of computers are infected with malicious software, called in broad sense, “Computer Virus”. The figure or stats of these virus various from software to software.

Welcome to the world of Computer Viruses. In the new global village of the Internet, the term “Computer Virus” has come to life more than ever before. Every person using the computer should discover what they are, where they come from and what may be the matching anti-dote. Ignoring or overlooking the topic viruses may be disastrous for any individual or any organization. All computer operations of an organization may malfunction within minutes of a viral infection and the organization may be paralyzed.

Computer malware or viruses may do any one or more of the following:-

1. They may reduce the speed of your computer.
2. They may corrupt and damage your computer’s files and programmes.
3. They may ‘hang’ your computer quite often.
4. They may block your Internet connection.
5. They may totally block your network in your office or home LAN.
6. They may display annoying messages to you.
7. They may just play a hoax on you without actually doing any harm.
8. They may steal your personal passwords and data.
9. They may dial any number using your PC and your modem without your knowledge.

And there are many other things that they are capable of doing, things that you never imagined. Sadly, many people who have problems or frequent crashes using their computers don not realize that they have a virus and live with the inconveniences.

What they are (Mechanism):-

Computer viruses are very similar to biological viruses. Biological viruses inject themselves to living organisms. They then use the living organism’s medium and resources to replicate themselves. The living organism becomes a “host” to the virus. The virus may replicate in plenty inside the “host” making clones of itself and then may infect other living organisms.

A computer virus is similar. Just as biological viruses spread from person to person, a computer virus spreads from computer to computer. Computers store programmes and documents used by the users. Actually, these programmes and documents become host to computer viruses. Computer viruses get attached to these programmes and documents and once these programmes or documents are run, the virus also gets executed. The virus is then “running” and can infect other programmes or documents.

A virus can have effects ranging from simply existing in your PC without harming it to destroying your valuable documents and programmes. In the latter case, your entire PC software is damaged; hence I have used the term “PC Killer”. In the former case, even if the virus exists in your computer without doing any harm, it keeps using your PC’s resources. In all cases therefore, viruses use your computer resources and in extreme cases they may even drain these resources leading to your computer getting “hanged”.

Definition and Classifications:-

The term “Virus” is a generic term which means a self-replicating or a damaging computer programme. According to Wikipedia,

A computer virus is self-replicating computer program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code of documents.

The main point to understand here is that computer viruses is a programme designed to execute and it is written by some author. Computer viruses cannot be created out of the blue from bugs in programmes or by themselves.

Documents may be simple Microsoft Word documents or Microsoft excel sheets that you create everyday and executable may be simple programmes that you run like Notepad, Word pad or even Microsoft word or Microsoft excel.

The term “Virus” in a complete sense encompasses all types of “Malware”. Malware is something which is unwanted software, something which has a potential ranging from changing your day-to-day computer settings to seriously harming your computer: damage your files and documents, damage the operating system itself, steal your passwords, interrupt the normal operation of your computer, including your web browsing, allow someone else to access and remote control your computer or end up playing just a joke on you in your computer. It is for these reasons that everyone should educate themselves about computer virus thoroughly.

The term “Virus” in the broad sense is applied today to cover all the following:-

1. Pure Viruses
2. Worms
3. Trojans

Whereas “Malware” will cover all the above plus the following:-

1. Spyware
2. Adware
3. Keyloggers
4. Hijackers
5. Denial of Sevice Attack (DoS)
6. Rootkits
7. Bombs

These are the main and many sub-classifications of the above also exist. I’ll cover the details of these in the later posts.

So did you learn something today? Please comment.

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