Lecture5

What are computer viruses?
• Viruses are small programs which hide themselves on your disks (both
diskettes and your hard disk). Unless you use virus detection software, the
first time that you know that you have a virus is when it activates. Different
viruses are activated in different ways. For instance, the famous Friday theHow do viruses infect PCs?
• Viruses hide on a disk and when you access the disk (either a diskette or
another hard disk over a network) the virus program will start and infect your
computer. The worst thing about a computer virus is that it can spread from
one computer to another, either via use of infected floppy disk, or over a
computer network. The Internet allows you to access files from all over the
world and you should never connect to the Internet unless you have a viruschecking
program installed on your computer. It is vital to keep your virus
monitoring software up to date. Many anti-virus programs, such as Norton
Anti Virus allow you to update the program so that the program can check for
recently discovered viruses.How to prevent virus damage
• There are a number of third party anti-virus products available. The main
thing about your virus checker is that it should be kept up to date. Many
companies supply updated disks on a regular basis or allow you to receive
updates automatically via the Internet.