Computer Viruses

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Computer Viruses

One thing that all computer users may have in common is fear of contracting a virus on their systems. A virus can be defined as ?a self-replicating/self-reproducing-automation program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents.? It is also considered to be ?malware? (malicious software), which includes worms and Trojans as well. Even though many types of anti-virus software exist, not every computer user utilizes these programs, which are not 100% effective.

There are different types of computer infections, some more common than others. A virus is a piece of software that attaches itself to another executable program, becoming a part of the program itself. A worm, however, does not need another program to transmit itself. Also a piece of software, a worm uses computer networks to reproduce itself. E-mail viruses moves through e-mail messages, replicating by automatically sending e-mails from the host computer to the listings in its address book. Trojan horses are a type of infector that does not replicate itself. It is a program that claims to perform one action, such as a game, but instead performs a different, malicious action, such as erasing your hard disk.

The first worm that gained major attention was created in 1988 by a Cornell University student. Called the Morris worm, it quickly affected a number of computers that were on the internet at the time. The first PC virus was called the Brain virus, and infected the boot records of 360K floppy disks, taking up the remaining space on the disk so it could not be used.

Many people either try to protect their systems and fail, or do not understand the serious threat of computer viruses. When the question...

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...f awareness as well; if more people had a larger knowledge of virus protection, they would not be at risk.

Works Cited

?Antivirus software.? Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 8 May 2006,

BBC NEWS. ?Why people write computer viruses.? 8 May 2006,

?Computer virus.? Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 8 May 2006,

?Computer worm.? Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 8 May 2006,

Discovery Channel. ?The History of Computer Viruses- A Timeline.? 8 May 2006,

?How Computer Viruses Work.? HowStuffWorks.

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