Computer Viruses and Threats and Staying Clear Of Them

Computer viruses have been on the rise and they have been giving people using the internet a very hard time and especially at the present times. The biggest danger with the viruses is that they are easily transmitted across computers and this is possible through very many avenues just as the people creating them have intended. Their intentions are also varied chiefly stealing personal data and secondly gaining control of networks and computers and lastly another of their intentions will be the malicious damage to information and infrastructure. The viruses are able to spread extremely fast and this is perhaps the biggest danger since they will be found in email attachments, as funny images, as even audio and video files and lots of other material which can be found online and downloaded for use on a personal computer.

Every computer owner and user should be wary of being a recipient of viruses. The fear of a virus attack is always very big and this arises also from the fear of the unexpected. Not everyone will really fear the viruses and some people especially in the cyber security niche will take their time to study various different computer viruses to identify how they have been programmed and the kind of damage they have been programmed to cause and lastly how they are able to spread. Having known these important pieces of information, an individual will have the necessary information to keep themselves protected and maintain cyber security. The information here is about knowing about the risk and how to deal with it far from knowing the consequences which when they finally happen are devastating. A look at some of the viruses frown at present will unearth different types which are the browser-hijackers which are usually aimed at raising advertising revenue by criminals via the directing of the browser to different websites and to voluntary download.

To mention just a few types of viruses known today, we will find the boot sector viruses, the web scripting viruses, the macro viruses, the file infector viruses, the resident viruses and the polymorphic viruses. These are just but a few of the viruses and are not an exhaustive list of the viruses known to man today. Aside from the viruses which are a big security threat, there are the worms, spyware, malware, rogue security software and the Trojans. These are threats which are equally devastating just like the viruses but are not as technically similar to the viruses.

The viruses have the potential to cause irreparable damage on the computer or the network and this has to do with the kind of problems that they are capable of causing. Of utmost importance is to have basic knowledge about the security threats and to know what measures to take to always be on the safe side. It is important that an individual knows some of the symptoms of the attacks by viruses. These will help prevent further damage being realized on the computer or on a network. The most obvious indications of the infection by viruses include the hard drive of the computer constantly running out of space. Computer programs will usually take quite a long time to load which is not normally the case. The programs will also be exhibiting inconsistent behavior which cannot be explained. The appearance and the disappearance of files in the computer is also a classic example of viruses having infected the computer. Other symptoms will be the display of strange graphics on the computer monitor, conventional memory reducing by a big margin among other changes which cannot be explained.

The most important steps to take so that an individual is able to protect himself from the Trojans and the computer viruses especially when online, begins with caution. Beware of downloads and the exchanging of files and documents. Open attachments only in the event that the author and the origin of the files are known. It certainly helps to side step any form of trouble. Antivirus software is another way to keep your PC protected from virus attacks. The antivirus software should always be updated to surely prevent any attacks. The process has been simplified and this has been so through automated updates being enabled with the antivirus software available today. Configure browsers to make sure that they do not launch programs automatically like the MS Word especially with the continued risk of macro viruses. Lastly, do a back up of the system which allows that an infected file will be replaced with a non infected file.

There are companies which are committed to preventing the spread of computer viruses and threats, like KaspAV, a division of Guardian Network Solutions and authorized Kaspersky reseller. KaspAV specializes in providing the ultimate cyber security solutions in order to prevent harmful types of viruses from lodging into your system and facilitate safe web browsing. Visit us by clicking on the link to speak to any of our consultants.

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Effective Ways to Defend Your System Against Hackers and Viruses

Viruses are the deadliest enemies of computer systems. One encounter with a virus, malware or Trojan, can immediately lead to devastating effects. It can lead to alterations of how your computer operates normally, it can hack your information and worse, it can delete your hard drive and totally crash your computer. Install the best antivirus protection to protect your computer system from harmful viruses.

If you notice that your system has been working differently and misses some data, you could look at a few tips listed below that you could install which would work effectively in protecting your computer from harmful, malicious data.

Antivirus Program: This is the most obvious and the most important software needed to be installed in your computer system. Having an antivirus system will help you determine which websites you should not enter and will guarantee you a trouble free internet experience. Although it is pricey at first, the benefits and features will definitely exceed its price especially if you are the one who connects to the internet frequently.

Updates for Windows: A lot of users of the most common and most coveted operating system have become victims of hackers and viruses. It is very important to always update Windows especially when given a notification. Do not pass on updating your operating system as this will allow your computer to keep track of the different worms, viruses and Trojans.

Updates for Software Applications: All software applications you install in your computer need to be updated. These updates fix bugs and equip the software with their new features. Moreover, they come with enhanced security applications, making your computer safe more resistant to viruses.

Anti-Spyware Program: Some antivirus software, especially, free downloadable versions do not come with spyware protection. If this is the case, you need to avail of the antivirus software or download a different anti-spyware program. Spyware is a big threat to your computer; it can ruin your computer system and hack your information.

Software That Determines Hacker Prone Websites: Porn, free download and online gaming sites have made hacking an easy task. Do not fall into these traps. Instead, some antivirus software offers a service that immediately informs you whether or not the websites you are trying to visit are safe or not.

Firewall Program: Firewall programs are really important for a computer system. If you don't have any third party firewall program, have it installed to ensure that your system can filter all your data. Activate your Windows firewall to the latest Windows operating system version which will help filter data traffic. These firewall programs can easily and effectively filter incoming and outgoing data streams.

Software That Controls Email Spam: Spam mails are bogus emails that lure people into opening them. Once opened, a malicious code can enter your computer and hack your information. Be wary of opening file attachments especially from unknown senders. Although, web based emails come with extra layers of protection against spam, if you do not recognize the email, it would be wiser to just delete the email.

Data Backup: If most of your important information and work related stuff are stored in your computer, make sure that you back-up all of those data and store them in an external hard drive or store it in a drop box. A simple virus has the capability to hack your information.

Download the best antivirus for windows 7 from Internet to protect your computer from viruses, malwares and other malicious programs. There are many websites available on the Internet that offers antivirus software download service absolutely free.

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Viruses and Anti-Virus Programs

These days, telling the difference between viruses and anti-virus software is like trying to choose the right door on Let's Make A Deal; either you win that new security system or accidentally choose the virus hiding behind door number two.

The viruses often look identical to the real thing. Take, for example, the Security Shield Virus, the Windows Defender Virus, or any other malicious software removal tools.

Viruses like these, block real anti-virus software from working and infect the computer with threats of malware, prompting users to perform fake scans, where the virus mirrors a security scan tool. The scans don't actually work, but they will nonetheless list an absurd number of viruses and malware that aren't actually affecting the computer.

Then the pop-ups start, asking users to pay for an upgrade to remove the fake malware. These websites are scams asking for personal information to defraud unwary customers.

It's easy to download these types of viruses: stumble across the wrong site, accidentally click a link or download a file from that sketchy website and voila, you've picked up a virus like a kid with chicken pox.

So the computer's already infected

There are a few options: check out IT computer repair service, manually delete the virus or buy new anti-virus software.

With the right website, it's easy to find a good anti-virus program. However, don't trust online virus scans. These are generally phishing websites where viruses get downloaded so that hackers can steal credit card info to get paid for their viruses.

Here Microsoft has a helpful list of safe anti-virus for Windows programs.

A word of warning: If the computer already got a virus, then downloading new programs usually won't work. Previously or newly-installed software can be blocked by the viruses and can even block the task manager from opening.

An alternative is to channel that inner nerd and get rid of the virus manually. Start with a system restore. If you don't know how to do that, then this is probably not the way to handle the virus-move on to option 3. If the system restore doesn't work (because many viruses will continue to infect the PC after the restore), then it's time to take out the big guns.

Google how to delete the virus using a description of the anti-virus program it's pretending to be. There are many online guides, like this one for the Security Shield Virus, for removing viruses. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to know which virus is causing the problem and these manuals are often convoluted and filled with jargon that can leave the inexperienced with a headache and a million Wikipedia tabs open.

Remote Computer Repair Services

IT support services are a quick solution. They're reliable, efficient, and they don't come knocking on your door. Remote computer repair technicians will clean up the computer and prevent the same problems from happening in the future.

My Computer Works is a good example of an easy-to-use service with technicians that will remotely access your computer, get rid of threats, and install new anti-virus software.

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Most Dangerous Computer Viruses on the Internet

Beast Trojan Horse - also known as remote administration tool (RAT)

Trojan horse is basically a standalone malevolent software program which cannot infect a computer automatically unless the virus is executed or the software program containing this virus. Once it gets executed, it will make numerous copies of itself and place them in multiple directories. In this way it can steal secret information from your computer by keystroke logging and damage the system completely. The beast Trojan horse has the capability to reverse connections which is also very harmful.

SQL Slammer - also known as Sapphire.

Its main feature is that it is a file-less worm. It spreads by taking benefit of vulnerabilities found mostly in SQL servers.

It is a mass mailer worm and holds the record of the fastest spreading worm. E-mail attachments are the prime areas which help to spread this worm. When an email attachment includes a subject line like "test", "error", "mail transaction failed", or "mail delivery system" in languages like English and French, then it means a virus. If this mail is executed then the worm is sent to the local files of the user's address book.

Black worm- also known as Mywife, Nyxem, etc.

This worm is spread through the emails that use External SMTP engine. The worm travels with different body texts, subjects, and the attachment names. Moreover, it creates multiple copies of itself and infects the hard drive with same name as in the windows file to remain hidden. The black-worm corrupts the data on every third day of the month. The worst part of this worm is that it can delete antivirus programs if both of them are placed in the same directory.

This worm affects kazaa which is a common file sharing program. This worm is also found in movie and music files. This worm creates multiple copies of itself and anyone users who download movies or music files make their computers infected with this virus.

Numbing Nimda - also known as Concept virus

This worm has the capability to modify executable files and web documents. This virus creates multiple copies of it and spreads as embedded attachments in HTML mail messages. These corrupt e-mail messages when opened by the recipient allow the virus to reach the recipient's computer also. This dangerous virus can also move through server web traffic, a shared hard drive which are infected, downloads, and so on.

This worm is so harmful that it can delete power point, excel, and word files along with other files. This virus travels via e-mails that come from a known recipient. The file containing this virus will show fake error message. It keeps a watch on the inbox of the infected system and then automatically sends replies to different senders.

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Protecting Your Computer Against Viruses

Computer viruses can spell disaster, and though it may be one of those things that you think will never happen to you, protecting yourself before something goes wrong can be an extremely important avoiding what could be a great deal of regret later on.

From photographs, to emails and documents, computers are becoming an increasingly central parts of our lives on a personal level and on a business level too.

What is a computer virus?

A virus is set loose on your computer when you launch a program, file or disk that has been previously been infected. Viruses may not be immediately detectable, and for this reason they can easily be spread from computer to computer before making itself known.

Protecting against a virus:

Effective security software and firewall protection, installed and updated regularly can provide a degree of protection against computer viruses. Threats are continually changing so it's important to keep your anti-virus software up-to-date. In addition keeping your Windows operating system (if you use Windows) and other software is kept updated to give you maximum protection on this front.

Exercise caution when opening email attachments that are unexpected or from unknown senders. You may also want to check that your anti-virus software will scan email and message attachments and and change your settings so that your email does not automatically display graphics or attachments.Only engage in download activity if you're sure that your anti-virus software and firewall protection is fully up-to-date.Likewise, don't click on unsolicited links in instant message or emails, unless you're certain of the.In case things do go wrong in spite of all the precautions you have taken back-up your files regularly to avoid losing everything should you fall prey to a computer virus.

Protecting yourself against computer viruses can often be a challenging aspect of computing, to say the least and it may seem all too easy to adopt the "out of sight, out of mind" mentality. Nevertheless protecting your computer or computer network can be important. If you notice your computer behaving in an unusual matter you should take action immediately to prevent any further damage being done. There may be free tools and information available out there to help you do this, or you may want to engage the services of a professional.

If you are unsure whether your computer, or computer network if you operate a business, is protected with the up-to-date anti-virus software you may want to engage the services of a IT support company.

John T. Hughes writes for Competent Solutions, a full-service Bristol IT Solutions company offering expert support and an extensive range of technology services including Cloud IT to help your business move forward.

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Must Know Tips on Removing Viruses and Malware From Your Computer Guide

Removing a virus infection from your computer does not have to be complicated. Below I have included a simple guide in removing viruses from your computer.

I will assume that the infected machine is running microsoft windows and has internet access.

Step 1) Restart the computer and press the f8 key until a boot menu pops up. Select "safe mode with networking" from the list and press enter.

Safe mode is a diagnostic mode of windows which starts the computer with the bare minimum functionality, this prevents viruses and malware from having full control but still allows you to clean the computer.

Step 2) Open a web browser and browse to malwarebytes antimalware and download malwarebytes antimalware.

Install this program and run a full scan. This software removes 99% of viruses and malware. If it finds an infection, malwarebytes antimalware will request you restart the computer. Restart the computer and run malwarebytes antimalware full system scan again (not in safe mode).

3)Install some basic protection such as avast antivirus or avg. I recommend the site ninite for downloading these programs as it will install them together without any extra toolbars and bloat software.

Another good site for free software is filehippo

For more advanced virus removal techniques, try some of the following

combofix, rkill, tdss killer, kaspersky boot cd, and hijackthis.

Combofix: This is a a fantastic free program that can remove an infection, my favourite aspect of it is its ability to repair windows system files. This can be very useful and its fairly quick to run (less than half an hour).

rkill is a small program that disables fake antivirus alerts allowing you to remove them. It is becoming less effective as viruses evolve. Sometimes i run it multiple times b double clicking it repeatedly, this prevents as virus from shutting it down.

tdss killer: this small program was very useful in 2011 for removing a very nasty infection that hid itself in the master boot record (a place that antivirus software cannot usually scan).

Kaspersky boot CD: I cannot stress enough what an effective method of virus removal this is. Simply download an iso from the kaspersky website. burn it to cd using imgburn and boot the computer from cd. choose the graphical interface and run an update. run the scan and restart the computer.

Finally the best way to prevent viruses from taking hold is to continually update windows, java and flash. These features of a computer are typically used as a vector to virus infection. By keeping your computer updated, you can prevent most common infections.

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The Metamorphosis of Computer Viruses

Have you ever heard the saying if someone can make it, someone can break it. Sure, this is a cliché usually reserved for prison escape movies, but it is also true of operating systems. Over the years the PC virus has metamorphosed into something far more complicated, the desire to turn your PC into a drone or bot allowing the virus controller to take control of your computer, sometimes targeting other sites in a distributed denial of service attack, or perhaps just waiting to intercept your Internet banking details.

Prior to broadband connections being widespread, creating large and sophisticated botnets of drone PCs was difficult due to the low speed of the dial-up analog modem. Faster broadband speeds have enabled ever increasingly sophisticated credit card fraud and DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks.

Today virus attacks can be broken into two categories. Destruction and Purpose. The first type of attack renders your system non functional and is the equivalent of cyber vandalism. The second type of attack is designed as a purpose, whether it is capturing your passwords, transforming your PC into a drone or installing some advertising malware into your browser toolbar, this type of attack is definitely the most dangerous.

Whatever the reason or motivation behind virus infections, what becomes clear is some operating systems are more vulnerable to these attacks than others. Windows based operating systems are definitely the most targeted, since the majority of people run the same operating system. A virus specifically designed to exploit a security loophole in the operating system will quickly spread throughout the infected users contacts and other files, generating infected emails or attaching malicious code with legitimate emails.

The easiest type of infection is with Javascript, which is embedded into almost every web page today. This is the main reason that html images are turned off by default in Outlook and other email clients, it just opens too many backdoor opportunities to hackers and viruses. So why is it that users of Linux and Mac seem to be relatively unscathed when it comes to viruses? The answer lies with the users permissions to execute code. By default users of these systems are not allowed to execute new code, users inherently don't have the ability to execute code as a service or change the runlevel of executable programs.

Coupled with the difficulty of creating and distributing the same virus compiled for different versions of Linux, such an undertaking becomes too much a daunting task for most intent on destruction. Windows makes a much softer target in this regard. Not that Linux servers are immune to such attacks, they all have similar exploits to Windows, however, security patching occurs much faster than with Windows since there are significant more individuals tracking and patching vulnerabilities before exploits are realized by the hacking community.

The Anti Microsoft Sentiment

This is probably the single biggest reason why Windows users are targeted. Hackers feel Microsoft is anticompetitive. Indeed, this is also the motivation behind organizations like Oracle that sponsored open source initiatives such as VirtualBox and Openoffice, which helps even out the playing field, as far as global dominance of office automation products are concerned. As a result of this sentiment, Windows PC's are the targets of more malware, phishing, virus than any other operating systems and as a result keeps virus detection and defense companies gainfully employed.

Firewalls and IPS

As the attacks become more sophisticated, security vendors are tuning their products to help combat the spread of infection. Simple firewall packet inspection rules are not enough on their own to stop a DDOS attack. In fact, the firewall itself may be the intended victim of such an attack. Today, most firewall solutions are coupled with Intrusion Detection and Protection, which allows firewall appliance to drop packets that exceed a certain threshold, such as the number of malformed http request from a particular host, a clear signal that a specific type of attack is being conducted on a web server for example. The firewall security appliance is critical for corporations, however, beyond the remit for most home users, who must rely on software based solution running on their PC.

Virus Defence Companies

Until 2009 protecting your Windows PC required a subscription to a anti-virus solution, virus defence companies sprung up everywhere and increased their services to include packet filtering software based firewalling. However Microsoft decided to provide a free security defence solution called Microsoft Security Essentials, in a attempt to stem the tide of virus attacks across it's products, (yes there are still folks out there who don't have any antivirus solution installed). In fact the upcoming release of Windows 8 will include the solution with the operating system. Can the competing virus solution companies differentiate themselves and hold on to market share? only time will tell.

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The Most Notorious Computer Viruses

Thinking of throwing away your laptop because of a malfunction of some sort? Has a laptop part suddenly stopped functioning properly? Is a program which used to run great suddenly going haywire?

Before you chalk it up to hardware fault like damaged laptop components, you have to first make sure that it isn't just a virus attack of some sort. While just as harrowing as a laptop part malfunction, viruses can be easily taken care of with a competent antivirus program.

Of course, not all viruses are created equal; and while the viruses depicted below have long since had countermeasures developed for them, at the time of their infestations, they were notorious little buggers.

Here are the five worst of the lot.

1. Melissa

In 1999, a computer virus began spreading like wildfire via email messages. Called "Melissa," creator David L. Smith said he named it after a Florida exotic dancer. And in the same way that a dancer can allure you with a striptease, the Melissa virus tempted people to open these emails with the message "Here is that document that you asked for, don't show it to anybody else." Once opened, the virus then replicates itself by going after the top fifty people in the recipient's address book.

2. I Love You

A year later, another heavy-hitter emerged, this time from the Philippines. Among other things, it could copy itself several times and hide the replicants in various separate folders; add new files to registry keys; replace several important system files with copies of itself; and download a file called WIN-BUGSFIX.EXE (a password-stealing program) and run it.

3. Klez

In 2001, a year after I Love You hit, a far more sinister one came out of the woodwork. Klez, when activated, multiplied itself through a victim's email list much like Melissa, and rendered desktop and laptop parts themselves to be inoperable. Before it was totally eradicated, its creators even fine-tuned it so that it would be intelligent enough to copy the email address it was coming from.

4. Code Red and Code Red II

Also in the same year as Klez, the Code Red and Code Red II viruses appeared. These viruses exploited a weakness in the programming of the Windows 2000 and Windows NT operating systems. The weakness in question was the OSes' buffer overflow problem. This problem occurs when a computer receives more information than the system's buffers can process and starts to overwrite adjacent memory.

The first Code Red infamously attacked web servers at the White House by implementing a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. This attack caused every infected computer to contact the White House's servers, thereby overloading them.

Meanwhile, Code Red II-infected computers were no longer operable by their owners because the virus created a backdoor program in their computers' systems, allowing a remote user to gain control of their machines.

5. Nimda

Still in 2001, a virus named Nimda (that's "admin" spelled backwards) spread throughout the internet. Nimda was notorious for being the fastest-spreading virus then, taking only 22 minutes to get from initial release to the top list of reported attacks.

Despite being able to infect home PCs just as well, its main target was internet servers, with the intention of slowing these down significantly. It travelled through the internet employing various methods, not the least of which was email propagation. This adeptness was what allowed it to multiply itself across thousands of servers in record time.

Abie Anarna is a blogger who specializes in writing about computers and various other electronic gadgets. Her educational background is in Information and Technology. She is very interested in all things tech-related; and has a particular inclination towards e-recycling, which is a prominent topic in her articles. She writes for LaptopAid, a company that also contributes to the e-recycling effort. In her spare time, she loves to read books and watch sappy rom-coms.

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