1.

INDEX
WHAT ARE VIRUSE
2. TYPES OF VIRUS
3. EXAMPLES OF RISKY FILES TYPES
4. HOW VIRUS GETS INTO YOUR COMPUTER
5. BASIC VIRUS DEFENCE
6. WHAT ARE ANTIVIRUS AND NETWORK FIREWALL
7. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ANTIVIRUS
WHAT ARE VIRUSE:

A computer virus is a computer program infect a computer.

The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of
malware, adware, and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive
ability.

The Creeper virus was first detected on ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet
in the early 1970s. Creeper was an experimental self-replicating program written
by Bob Thomas in 1971.It infected computers running the TENEX operating
system. Creeper copied itself to the remote system where the message, "I'm the
creeper, catch me if you can!" was displayed. The Reaper program was created to
delete Creeper.

Types of viruse:

 Trojan Horses
 Worms
 Email Viruses

Trogen horses: 

A trojan horse program has the appearance of having a useful and desired
function. While it may advertise its activity after launching, this information is not
apparent to the user beforehand.

Secretly the program performs other, undesired functions.

A Trojan Horse neither replicates nor copies itself, but causes damage or
compromises the security of the computer.

Worm virus:

A Worm is a virus program that copies and multiplies itself by using computer
networks and security flaws.
 Worms are more complex than Trojan viruses, and usually attack multi-user
systems such as Unix environments and can spread over corporate networks via the
circulation of emails.

patches. Operating systems and application vendors normally provide these

patches. In addition, you should avoid opening email attachments from unknown
senders.

The best way you can protect yourself from worms is by updating your security
Email virus:

Email viruses use email messages to spread. An email virus can automatically
forward itself to thousands of people, depending on whose email address it attacks.

Assembly virus:

These are the virus that changes the voltage supply of the components of your
system which damages the components and even can catch fire.

Examples of risky file types

 The following file types should never be opened:

 .EXE
 .PIF
 .BAT
 .VBS
 .COM
How viruses get into computers:

 The four most common virus infections come from:

 File – A virus type that infects existing files on the computer (~40%)
 Macro – A virus that runs as a macro in a host application such as the
MS Office applications (~35%)
 VBScript – A virus that uses Windows VisualBasic Script functionality
(~10%)
 Internet Worm – A virus that is primarily characterized by it’s
replication across the Internet (~5%)

Basic virus defense

 Don’t open files that you are not expecting
 Many viruses automatically send files without the e-mail account
owner’s knowledge.
 Ask the sender to confirm unexpected files.
 Suspect messages that appear more than once in your Inbox
 You may receive the same e-mail from a virus repeatedly.
 Learn file extensions
 Your computer will display both an icon and a file extension for files
you receive. Open only file extensions you know are safe.
 When in doubt, call the help desk.

WHAT ARE ANTIVIRUS

Antivirus (or anti-virus) software is used to prevent, detect, and remove

malware, including computer viruses, worms, and trojan horses. Such programs
may also prevent and remove adware, spyware, and other forms of malware.

Anti-virus software typically uses two different techniques to accomplish this:

 Examining files to look for known viruses by means of a virus dictionary

which it has of its own
 Identifying suspicious behavior from any computer program which might
indicate infection
 Network Firewall

Network firewalls prevent unknown programs and Internet processes from

accessing the system protected. However, they are not antivirus systems as
such and thus make no attempt to identify or remove anything. They may
protect against infection from outside the protected computer or LAN, and
limit the activity of any malicious software which is present by blocking
incoming or outgoing requests on certain TCP/IP ports. A firewall is
designed to deal with broader system threats that come from network
connections into the system and is not an alternative to a virus protection
system.

Advantages of anti viruses

1. They help to prevent data misuse by viruses

2. They protect computers against data theft
3. They protect data from being altered
4. They ensure that computer resources are well utilized

Disadvantages of anti viruses

1. Anti viruses may quarantine or delete the wrong files hence rendering some
applications that depend on these files unusable.
2. Anti viruses consume a lot of memory and processor time on the computer
systems
3. Anti viruses are expensive software particularly in maintaining them since
they have to be updated frequently.

Source:

Internet