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Safeguard Your Computer System & Data Against Online Dangers
Filed Under: Security
Every computer that’s attached to the Internet is vulnerable to attacks by viruses and other threats. From worms that cause something as benign as a change of your browser’s homepage to Trojan horses that cost companies millions of dollars in lost time and data, computer viruses are a serious problem.
These bits of code are often written by kids and teens who are experimenting and may not even intend to do a great deal of damage. A small number of viruses are written by people who intend to inflict harm. Even if a relatively harmless virus gets on your computer, it can slow your system down, render some programs useless and cause other serious problems. You can protect yourself in a number of ways.
Email Attachments and Questionable Websites
Most viruses come in an email attachment. Before everyone was online, the easiest way of getting a virus into your system was by installing a program on a floppy disk that contained a virus. This has been mostly eliminated, so now the attacks come chiefly through email and, to a slightly lesser degree, through web browsing.
If you get an email attachment you’re not expecting, even if it’s from someone you know well, don’t open it. Contact them first to confirm what it is. If it’s from someone you don’t know, take the safe route and delete it.
If your Aunt Mary managed to get a virus on her computer, it may have sent itself to everyone in her address book. That’s why it’s important to make sure you’re expecting the attachment even if it’s from someone you know. In fact, if you receive an email that you’re not expecting and it looks suspicious at all, don’t open it. Some emails don’t even require obvious attachments to deposit something bad onto your system.
You can pick up a Trojan horse or other program by simply visiting a web page, also. Some sites have ActiveX Controls or scripting that will put a virus into your system through your browser. Most browsers will warn you that a site might be dangerous, so avoid those and avoid porn, hacking and illegal activity sites as these are the most likely to have viruses attached.
Use an antivirus program and a firewall, and keep them updated. Keep your Windows system or other operating system updated and keep an eye out for new downloads and security patches. These things will prevent these viruses from getting into your system.
Understanding Computer Viruses
There are three basic types of viruses that you can pick up through email and web browsing: A virus, a Trojan horse and a worm. The term “virus” is used as an umbrella term for any type of malicious code, but a virus can actually be very different from a worm or a Trojan horse, or it can be one and the same.
A virus typically gets into your system and changes something. It could be something as silly as causing a message to flash on your screen, or it could wipe data from your hard drive. A Trojan horse, also called a backdoor, gets its name from the Trojan horse of myth that was used to sneak warriors inside the wall surrounding Troy. A Trojan horse will get into your system and open a backdoor where a hacker can put information into your system, or take it out.
The third type of virus, a worm, is the type of self-replicating program that immediately emails itself to everyone in your address book. It may have the characteristics of a damaging virus and/or a Trojan horse, and can be something silly or something serious. Worms tend to spread quickly because of the email aspect.
If you run an antivirus program and a firewall, and practice common sense with email attachments and web browsing, you should be well-protected against these annoying and damaging viruses. But always backup your information just in case, so that you could restore your system in the event of an attack.
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