One MinuteGeek:

The world of viruses

Computer viruses are a problem that won’t go away. You can expect more viruses this year than last year. You can also expect some of these viruses to carry payloads that are more destructive than ever. So who creates these viruses and why do they do it? How should you defend your computer? And what about all those emails warning you about viruses. Should you trust those warnings?

Solution:

Who creates computer viruses? The short answer is people who want to cause trouble for other people. Some of them also hope to steal your identity or misuse your PC. Since the motivation of virus writers is to infect as many PCs as possible, they almost always target the widely popular Windows-based machines. Computer viruses rarely infect Macs or Linux computers.

It doesn’t take a lot of skill to create an effective computer virus. In fact, many viruses are variants of previous viruses. The virus code is available on line, someone modifies the code a bit so it looks different and re-releases it on the Internet. You then “catch” the virus via an infected email attachment, download, or network connection.

Viruses can delete information on your computer, take over your address book, destroy your hard drive and even open a secret backdoor to your PC so the bad guys can access your files or use your computer as a zombie for bad or even criminal deeds including theft or manipulation of information or identities.

How can you protect yourself from virus infection? Buy antivirus software from one of the major companies, like McAfee or Norton. Configure your antivirus software to automatically update itself and to automatically scan all incoming email and attachments. It’s also always a good idea to scan all new files before you open them.

In addition, you should install a firewall to help protect your PC from the bad guys on the Internet. You can download a free firewall at www.zonealarm.com. A router also works well as a firewall.

Many viruses are mass mailers. The mass mailer is designed to automatically scan your computer’s address book and send copies of itself to everyone in your address book. The virus may even “spoof” your email address and send infected email to all your contacts with your email address in the “From” field of the email. Your friends, who assume the email was legitimately from you, open it and propagate the virus all over again. That’s why it’s a great idea to never open an unexpected attachment, even if it’s in an email from a friend. When in doubt, call or email your friend and ask what the attachment is before you open it.

Last but not least, understand that all spam is a scam. This includes spam about computer viruses. Basically, if anything looks like spam, it is probably a hoax. If you want to check on the legitimacy of a virus warning, visit the virus information library of Network Associates. An alphabetized inventory lists both hoaxes and real viruses. If the virus is real, the library listing tells you both how you got infected and how to remove the virus. It’s at h ttp://vil.nai.com. You can also find good information at www.symantec.com and www.mcafee.com.

James Kerr is President/CEO of SuperGeeks, a Hawaii-based computer service and repair company (www.supergeeks.net). Please feel free to send your questions, comments and suggestions to Mr. Kerr. He can be reached at kerr@supergeeks.net and 942-0773.