Learning Outcome 2

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Training, Teaching and Learning Materials Development (TTLM)

Learning Guide Date: 04-2014 Page 1 of 16
Author: MIKE, ICT MISRAK TVET College

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ICT SUPPORT SERVICE
Level I

Unit of Competence: Protect Software or System Application
Module Title : Protecting Software or System Application
LG Code : ICT ITS1 L01 10
TTLM Code : ICT ITS1 TTLM 0414

LO 2: Detect and removed destructive software

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INTRODUCTION Learning Guide # 11

This learning guide is developed to provide you the necessary information regarding the following content
coverage and topics

Computer Viruses
Virus Origin, History and Evolution
Virus Infection, Removal and Prevention
Anti-virus Software

This guide will also assist you to attain the learning outcome stated in the cover page.
Specifically, upon completion of this Learning Guide, you will be able to

Define and identify common types of destructive software
Select and install virus protection compatible with the operating system in use
Describe advanced systems of protection in order to understand further options
Install Software updates on a regular basis
Configure software security settings to prevent destructive software from infecting computer
Run and/or schedule virus protection software on a regular basis
Report detected destructive software to appropriate person and remove the destructive software
Learning Activities

1. Read the specific objectives of this Learning Guide.
2. Read the information written in the Information Sheets 1 in pages 3-4.
3. Accomplish the Self-check in page 5.
4. Read the information written in the Information Sheets 2 in pages 6-7.
5. Accomplish the Self-check in page 8.
6. Read the information written in the Information Sheets 3 in pages 9.
7. If you earned a satisfactory evaluation proceed to Operation Sheet on pages 10-14. However, if your
rating is unsatisfactory, see your teacher for further instructions or go back to Learning Activity # 1.
8. Do the LAP test in page 15 (if you are ready) and show your output to your teacher. Your teacher
will evaluate your output either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. If unsatisfactory, your teacher shall advice
you on additional work. But if satisfactory you can proceed to Learning Guide 11.

Your teacher will evaluate your output either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. If unsatisfactory, your
teacher shall advice you on additional work. But if satisfactory you can proceed to the next topic.

Information Sheet 1 Computer Viruses

What is a Virus?
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Virus is a small software program that is specifically designed to spread between computers and hinder
basic computer functions.

Viruses are commonly spread through email attachments or instant messages, so it's never a good idea
to open an attachment from a sender that you are not familiar with. They can also be inadvertently downloaded
through the Internet, as part of a file or program that might have come from a questionable website.
Computer viruses can cause serious damage to a computer system. They can slow down the computer's
overall performance and lead to a loss of data that could range from one single file to your entire hard drive.
These viruses have kept pace with new computer technology, evolving rapidly and increasing in complexity;
however, there are still many easy and often free ways to eliminate these destructive programs, while keeping
new ones from invading.
Here are the different kinds of viruses:
Virus - Can replicate and spread to other computers. Also attacks other program
Worm - A special type of virus that can replicate and spread, but generally doesn't attack other
programs
Trojan - Doesn't replicate, but can spread. Doesn't attack other programs. Usually just a way of
recording and reporting what you do on your PC
Viruses are split into different categories, depending on what they do.
Here are a few categories of viruses:
Boot Sector Virus
The Boot Sector of a PC is a part of your computer that gets accessed first when you turn it on.
It tells Windows what to do and what to load. It's like a "Things To Do" list. The Boot Sector is also
known as the Master Boot Record. A boot sector virus is designed to attack this, causing your PC to
refuse to start at all!

File Virus
A file virus, as its name suggests, attacks files on your computer. Also attacks entire programs,
though.

Macro Virus
These types of virus are written specifically to infect Microsoft Office documents (Word, Excel
PowerPoint, etc.) A Word document can contain a Macro Virus. You usually need to open a document
in an Microsoft Office application before the virus can do any harm.

Multipartite Virus
A multipartite virus is designed to infect both the boot sector and files on your computer

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Polymorphic Virus
This type of virus alter their own code when they infect another computer. They do this to try
and avoid detection by anti-virus programs.

Self-Check 1 Written Test

Instruction: Answer all the questions listed below, if you have some difficulty doing this self check, feel
free to ask your teacher for clarifications.

1. It is a small software program that is specifically designed to spread between computers and
hinder basic computer functions.
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2. What are three (3) different kinds of viruses

3. This virus doesn't replicate, but can spread.

4. It can replicate and spread to other computers. Also attacks other program

5. A special type of virus that can replicate and spread, but generally doesn't attack other
Programs

6. What are the five (5) categories of a virus?

7. This virus attacks files on your computer.

8. These viruses are written specifically to infect Microsoft Office documents
(Word, Excel PowerPoint, etc.)

9. This virus alters their own code when they infect another computer.

10. This is designed to infect both the boot sector and files on your computer.

11. It is design to attack boot sector, causing your PC to refuse to start at all.

You must able to get 11points to be competent otherwise youll take another test

Information Sheet 2 Virus Infection, Removal and Prevention
How do Viruses get on my computer?
The most common way that a virus gets on your computer is by an email attachment. If you open the
attachment, and your anti-virus program doesn't detect it, then that is enough to infect your computer. Some
people go so far as NOT opening attachments at all, but simply deleting the entire message as soon as it comes
in. While this approach will greatly reduce your chances of becoming infected, it may offend those relatives of
yours who have just sent you the latest pictures of little Johnny!
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You can also get viruses by downloading programs from the internet. That great piece of freeware you
spotted from an obscure site may not be so great after all. It could well be infecting your PC as the main
program is installing.
If your PC is running any version of Windows, and it hasn't got all the latest patches and updates, then
your computer will be attacked a few minutes after going on the internet! (Non Windows users can go into
smug mode!)
Nowadays, they utilized the use of removable storage devices to spread viruses. The most common is
the use of flash drive. Since removable drives like flash drive, CD/DVDs have the autorun functionality, a simple
command that enables the executable file to run automatically, they exploited and altered it so it will
automatically run the virus (normally with .exe, .bat, .vbs format) when you insert your flash drive or CD/DVDs.
Virus infected Symptoms
Common symptoms of a virus-infected computer include
unusually slow running speeds
failure to respond to user input
system crashes and constant system restarts that are triggered
automatically.
Individual applications also might stop working correctly,
disk drives might become inaccessible,
unusual error messages may pop up on the screen,
menus and dialog boxes can become distorted and peripherals like printers
might stop responding.
You can't access your disk drives Other symptoms to look out for are strange
Error messages, documents not printing correctly, and distorted menus and dialogue boxes. Try
not to panic if your computer is exhibiting one or two items on the list.
Keep in mind that these types of hardware and software problems are not always caused by
viruses, but infection is certainly a strong possibility that is worth investigating.

Removal
The first step in removing computer viruses is installing any updates that are available for your
operating system; modern operating systems will automatically look for updates if they are connected to
the Internet. If you do not already have anti-virus software on your computer, subscribe to a service and
use the software to do a complete scan of your computer. Since new computer viruses are constantly
being created, set your anti-virus program to automatically check for updates regularly.
Prevention
In order to prevent future computer infections:
use an Internet firewall,
check for operating system and anti-virus program updates,
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scan your computer regularly and exercise caution when handling email and Internet files.

A firewall is a program or piece of hardware that helps screen out viruses, worms and
hackers which are attempting to interact with your computer via the Internet. On modern computers,
firewalls come pre-installed and are turned on by default, so you probably already have one running in
the background. When opening email attachments, don't assume they are safe just because they come
from a friend or reliable source; the sender may have unknowingly forwarded an attachment that
contains a virus.

Self-Check 2 Written Test

Instruction: Answer all the questions listed below, if you have some difficulty doing this self check, feel
free to ask your teacher for clarifications.

1. What is the most common way that a virus can get to your computer?

2. You can also get virus by what?

3. Nowadays what do the viruses utilize for them to spread?

4. What is a simple command that enables the executable file to run automatically?

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5. Give at least five(5) Common symptoms of a virus-infected computer.

6. What is the first step in removing a virus to you computer?

7. What is another step you must do to in removing a virus to your computer?

8. It is a program or piece of hardware that helps screen out viruses, worms and hackers which
are attempting to interact with your computer via the Internet.

9. What are the 3 ways to prevent your computer to get infected with virus?

You must able to get 9 points to be competent otherwise youll take another test

Information Sheet 3 Anti-virus Software
Antivirus software
Antivirus or anti-virus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware, including but not
limited to computer viruses, computer worm, trojan horses, spyware and adware. This page talks about the
software used for the prevention and removal of such threats, rather than computer security implemented by
software methods.
There are different anti-virus in the world because the virus is different as well as.
Some Example of anti-virus.

MacAfee anti vies
Avast anti virus
Semantic anti virus
AVG anti virus etc

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Operation Sheet 1 Protecting your computer from Viruses

You can protect yourself against viruses with a few simple steps:
If you are truly worried about traditional (as opposed to e-mail) viruses, you should be running a
more secure operating system like UNIX. You never hear about viruses on these operating systems
because the security features keep viruses (and unwanted human visitors) away from your hard disk.
If you are using an unsecured operating system, then buying virus protection software is a nice
safeguard.
If you simply avoid programs from unknown sources (like the Internet), and instead stick with
commercial software purchased on CDs, you eliminate almost all of the risk from traditional viruses.
You should make sure that Macro Virus Protection is enabled in all Microsoft applications, and you
should NEVER run macros in a document unless you know what they do. There is seldom a good
reason to add macros to a document, so avoiding all macros is a great policy.
You should never double-click on an e-mail attachment that contains an executable. Attachments that
come in as Word files (.DOC), spreadsheets (.XLS), images (.GIF), etc., are data files and they can do
no damage (noting the macro virus problem in Word and Excel documents mentioned above).
However, some viruses can now come in through .JPG graphic file attachments. A file with an
extension like EXE, COM or VBS is an executable, and an executable can do any sort of damage it
wants. Once you run it, you have given it permission to do anything on your machine. The only
defense is never to run executables that arrive via e-mail.
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System Security Configuration
Security is a key for any hardware or software infrastructures which are either in stand alone or networked
environment.
Microsoft provides free support for virus- and security-related issues for Windows XP.
To open security center:
Step 1. Click start control panel security center.

Step 2. Click security center

Step 3. Click on change the way security center alerts me on the left side of your screen.

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Step 4. Check/uncheck the check boxes in order to set alerts.

How to turn on or off security center:

Step 1. Click start control panel performance and maintenance

Step 2. Click on administrative tools
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Step 3. Double Click on services

Step 4. Find and double click on security center
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Step 5. Select Automatic from start up type drop down list.

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Step 6. Click on apply

Step 7. Click on start and click on ok button.

Lap Test Practical Demonstration

Name: ________________________ Date: ___________

Time started: ___________________ Time finished: ________

Instructions: You are required to perform the following individually with the presence of your teacher.

1. Set the internet firewall on
2. Set the automatic updates on
3. Enable Macro Virus Protection on MS Word, MS Excel and MS Access
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4. Install any Software Antivirus
5. Install Deepfreeze (optional)

Your teacher will evaluate your output either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. If
Unsatisfactory, your teacher shall advice you on additional work. But if satisfactory, you can proceed to the next
topic.

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