The Truth About Viruses

Kelly Staller

Copyright(c) 2007 StarReviews.com

We’ve all heard about computer-virus nightmare stories from friends and colleagues. What begins as an innocent-looking email can end up ravaging your PC, wiping out files and destroying your software programs. However, many websites and unassuming files can inflict damage as well, without us ever knowing until the damage is already done.

Even the best antivirus software cannot fully shield a user from the bugs and trojans running rampant on the Web. However, many software packages are designed to ward off new viruses as they are emerging. There are many aspects of viruses people don’t know about and before choosing an anti-virus software program, it’s necessary to separate fact from fiction.

Do these virus FAQs surprise or scare you?

• A virus can be spread when its host file is replicated. For instance, if you copy a file from a friend’s jump drive that contains a virus, your computer can get it.

• A virus does not need permission from a PC’s user in order to download and spread.

• Resident viruses do not need a host to spread. These viruses load themselves into memory of a PC’s files and transfer control to the host.

• Nonresident viruses look for hosts to infect and replicate themselves.

• Viruses can hide their file extensions from anti-virus programs, making it necessary to stay on top of your security updates in order to outwit the virus.

• Virus signature definitions only protect users from viruses pre-dating their last virus signature update: another reason to run automatic updates whenever possible.

• Heuristic software protection involves protection based on virus’ common behaviors, before there is an outbreak.

A virus’s capability to wreak havoc is truly extensive, but can be preventable. Every person will most likely come face-to-face with a virus at least once during their computer-usage. This makes it necessary to compare antivirus security and find one to begin protecting you.

6StarReviews is a great place to look for programs like The Shield Pro, which is designed to scan for viruses at high speeds and offers immediate security-breach alerts. Before you fall prey to the next Trojan, consider the benefits of purchasing yourself some security software.

Listening to music is a great way to entertain and keep oneself relaxed. Often people choose this mode to de-stress themselves after a day’s toil. And, MP3 players have merged as a popular mode to listen music. The portability of these music devices in addition to expandable memory capacity are the chief reasons behind its increasing demand in the market. The increased demand has resulted in the availability of an amazing array of sleek and stylish MP3 players, ready to quench the thrust of music aficionados.

With the revolution in the digital technology, the portable magnetic tape cassette player was modified to play digital music files using digital storage. The format also became condensed and compact, thus giving way to a new format of music file encoding called MP3. These gadgets have improved significantly in look, functionality and features in the last decade or so. The MP3 players began to appear in almost all the electronic instruments such as Mobiles, watches or as standalone music players. The MP3 players are basically of four types when classified on the basis on storage memory type. They are:-

• Flash Memory based ( 256 Mb to 16 GB)
• Hard Disc drives based( 1 GB to 250 GB)
• MP3 Compact Disc memory based like Music systems( 700 MB to 50 GB)
• Networked Audio players through Cable or Wireless network based, where storage memory is located on servers. ( Unlimited Memory)

In addition to above, you can also find many choices in MP3 players in the market. You can find MP3 players in different sizes, memory capacity and functionality as well as LCD size ranging from 1.8” up to 3.0”. One can save a lot of money on purchasing these MP3 players from online shops. Portable Deals is an online shop that offers a comprehensive variety of MP3 players and other electronic gadgets. One can find here all varieties of MP3 players such as a combo with watch, mobile, video players, or as stand alone digital audio players. They are available in variety of memory capacities ranging from 1GB to 16 GB. Moreover there is discount available, on the monthly special product, which is up to 10 to 20 per cent on certain models. Besides that 30 days money back guarantee plus one year warrantee on every product allows you to shop with confidence. To check on the amazing array of MP3 players, visit portabledeals.com.

What to Do if Your PC is Infected From lethal infections to simply frustrating ones, virus infections are the curse of computer users. Once you’ve recognized the symptoms, what can you do about it?Don’t Panic – Almost every computer is infected with a virus at one point or another. Quick action and caution are necessary. There are two types of computers—those that have been infected with a virus, and those that will be infected with a virus soon.Top 4 Reasons to have a strong virus protection software 1. Protect your computer system from breakdown2. Guard Data on your computer from identity theft3. Prevent spam email inundation.4. Peace of MindDefinitions for Detection – Viruses work by placing bits of code onto separate files, infecting that file before moving on to the next one. This is why, unlike humans, computers are healed of viruses by cutting off the infected part. The code that viruses place on the file has a unique signature that antivirus programs can spot. This method of finding viruses is very common but has one drawback—the antivirus program is only as effective as it is current. Every time a new virus comes out, the program has to be updated. Top 5 Features to look for in an anti virus software program 1. Easy to Install2. Simple to Use3. Effective at removing viruses and backed by certified testing4. Technical Support availableTo solve this problem, some antivirus programs use a “heuristic” algorithm. Viruses have behaviors in common with each other, such as working without changing the recorded “last modified” date, or avoiding changing the size of the file. The antivirus program will recognize this behavior and find the virus by tracing back to the source. Other antivirus systems use a “baiting” system, where several files are made to look and coded to be like regular files, but are in fact closely watched by the antivirus software. If a virus tries to modify these files, the software catches and contains it. Of course, the cat and mouse game between the virus creators and virus destroyers is endless. Viruses are constantly evolving to dodge tricks put forth by antivirus programs. Top 5 Virus Protection Software Programs 1. 2. 3. BitDefender Anti Virus4. Shield Pro 20075. Mcafee AntiVirus

Printers are our friends, for students to the working individual, there is nothing like the convenience of being able to print from the comfort of where we are. They make our digital works come alive with colour and text, and for some, it is an essential part of their lives. You would be surprised to know that there are more than 100,000,000 pieces of paper being printed and discarded every month worldwide, and that is a staggering amount of trees.

Of course, they have come out with the new wood free paper and other technology, but the amount of trees that are being cut is quite mammoth in the first place. Well this also gives you an idea of how many printers there are in the world today, and when it comes to this, you need to understand that the amount of mistakes being made on a daily basis when it comes to printer drivers is also something that has run into the hundreds of thousands.

Knowing this, what you need to know about this is that there are solutions out there that you can use to your advantage when thinking about the printer driver. The driver is the biggest cause of many of the problems that are being reported about printers and this is because of the sheer range of machines out there that the printers have to connect with and with this, they connections and communication between driver and computer will often come into many problems.

So what you need to do is to be able to keep a list of updated printer drivers, because this is how the industry of quality control works. What you need to know is that you as a human being, a computer user is someone who is actually a test bed for much of the hardware out there. Now, beta testing aside, the real test is when the hardware is being released to many of the systems out there and this is really where most of the engineers get their work cut out for them. Because they cannot test their hardware and engineered drivers against all possible software and hardware combinations in the world, what happens is that they leave it up to the world to tell them of the mistakes.

When this happens, they will then look at the reports and then look at the architecture of the drivers once again. Once they are able to do this, what happens is that they will then make the changes and this is when the version history of the driver comes in. So you need to be on top of the game when it comes to the printer driver downloads industry, and it is these quality checks that would be able to give you the advantage necessary. Sometimes what you can do is to subscribe to their online download and support sites, and you would be then notified of much of the changes made.

These are just some of the troubleshooting tips you can take into consideration when you encounter problems with your printer. Most of the time it is down to the drivers, and your best bet is to download a driver update from the manufacturer or a reliable third party source.

Advances in computer technology is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it affords us quick and easy access to numerous conveniences such as bank statements, favorite shopping centers, school and health records, and more. On the other hand, it can also grant the same access to those who aren’t supposed to get it. Although it’s a rare occurrence, hacking has become the biggest criminal nuisance in computer history.

Make no bones about it. There’s nothing innocent or cute about the hacker. Today’s hackers aren’t the pimply-faced teen rebels that you might be thinking of. Instead, this generation of hackers are grown individuals who are more than likely earning a living by stealing the identities of innocent, law abiding individuals and then selling those identities to others who want to slip by the system. And the only protection against these seedy people is prevention.

Computer security couldn’t be more important than it is today and that’s why we’ve taken the time to introduce it to you.  You can reduce the probability of experiencing identity theft by making your computer as hacker-proof as possible. All that’s needed is a little software and a lot of common sense.

1. Install an anti-virus/anti-spyware program. Anti-virus/anti-spyware software will stop malicious code from downloading and installing onto your computer while you peruse the Internet. Known as viruses, worms, or spyware, this malicious code can destroy important files and render your computer good for only one thing: sending sensitive data back to the server of an identity thief.
2. Don’t store sensitive data on your computer in the first place. Should your computer get infected with a virus, worm, or piece of spyware, you can thwart the individuals responsible by not storing your personal information on your PC so that when and if your computer does send back data – it won’t be anything valuable. Hackers look for things like full names, social security numbers, phone numbers, home addresses, work-related information, and credit card numbers. If these things aren’t saved onto a computer, there’s nothing critical to worry about other than restoring your computer to a non-virus condition.
3. Don’t open files without scanning them with an anti-virus/anti-spyware program. In the past, the warning was to avoid opening files from people that you don’t know. Today it’s really not safe to open files from anyone (without scanning the files) because that’s how viruses get spread – through files – even by mistake. So even though your co-worker may have emailed a funny video, it’s no more safe to open than a video downloaded from a complete stranger. Be safe and scan each and every file you download from the Internet or receive through email regardless of where it came from.
4. Create a barrier between your computer and prying eyes. Anti-virus/anti-spyware programs are only effective after the effect. But you can prevent identity theft from occurring by installing a firewall. A firewall is software that checks all data entering and exiting a computer and it then blocks that which doesn’t meet specified security criteria (user-defined rules)
5. Don’t click on website links in spam messages. In an effort to obtain personal information, some spammers will send email that asks you to click on a link. The email messages are often disguised as important messages from well-known online establishments, and they often try to scare their readers into clicking links with threats of closing an account of some sort. Sometimes the links are harmless and attempt to con the reader into volunteering personal information (credit card number), but other times the links attempt to download harmful software onto a computer.

Your best protection against computer crimes is your own knowledge. Hopefully the suggestions above will prompt you into taking appropriate action and into protecting your computer with the suggested tools. In doing so, you’ll not only protect yourself, you’ll prevent the spread of these malicious activities and protect others at the same time.

I’m pretty sure that you’re quite cognizant of the terms “anti-virus software” or anti-malware software”. Since you’re looking at this article, you are probably acquainted with the severe penalties of your PC being infected by a virus or by spyware, but do you know how an anti-virus program actually works? A knowledge of how this kind of software works can help you to choose the correct protection program for your computer.

In the beginning, anti-virus software was invented to focus on and get rid of malware, specifically viruses, but with the passing of time, as the criminals developed more complex malware, so the defenses against computer infection matched the sophistication of the attacks. Nowadays, most anti-virus software will protect against spyware, adware, worms, trojans and a host of other kinds of attacks and infections which could infect your personal computer system.

There are basically two methods used by anti-virus software to defend your PC: scanning files and scrutinizing suspicious activities (also known as the Heuristic Method).

Scanning Files

In the scanning approach, it accesses a database of known virus code and uses it to compare the suspect code on your PC to this known threat. That’s why it’s essential to keep your anti-virus’s program up-to-date, because it can only compare already identified malware against your files. New malware is constantly appearing on the Internet and only a regular update of your threat database will ensure that your PC is clean.

When it has been established that your PC is infected by a known virus, your anti-virus application can initiate defensive measures, which may take the form of any of three different actions:

-           Repair the damaged area. Your anti-virus program will try to remove the threat by removing the virus

-            Segregate the infected code. The anti-virus program will stop the infection from growing by making the infected code inaccessible to other applications

-           Delete the file. The anti-virus program will eradicate the affected file and the virus with it.

The method described above requires the PC owner to regularly update their virus database so that any newly discovered threats can be tackled.

Scanning is usually initiated when the operating system receives or sends and email or opens and closes a file, or launches a new program. It is strongly recommended, however, that a regular schedule of scanning your entire system be set up at a pre-defined time. This need not interrupt your work on your PC, as you can schedule the system scan to begin in the middle of the night, when you’re asleep.

The Heuristic Process

This methodology is unlike the scanning approach in that, instead of comparing files to known viruses, it scrutinizes the activities of code on a PC. If unwanted conduct is detected (and the current crop of advanced anti-malware programs can separate innocuous activity from potentially damaging actions, then a pre-defined range of responses is activated. The response can range from asking the PC owner how to proceed, all the way up to automatically deleting the offending code.

Heuristics offer the ability to defend against unknown sources of infection, purely based on the way that they behave. Heuristic-based programs can knock out threats before they can cause any damage.

Both methods are effective and some anti-malware programs are combining these approaches so that you, the user, can benefit from the best of both worlds.

Now that most people use the internet these days, it is a very good idea to make sure that you have good quality computer security software installed and protecting your computer. Anti virus software, anti spyware software and having a hardware or software firewall are now essential for everyone using a computer and here is an explanation why this is so.

Anti Virus software protects your computer from virus threats that can contaminate your computer and can slow down your computer, damage your files or even damage your computers hard drive requiring you to reformat your hard drive and needing to reinstall your operating system in order to get things back to normal. So as you can see anti virus software is an essential thing to have if you want to keep your computer healthy and free from viruses.

It is not enough just to install the anti virus software however, you will also need to keep it up to date in order to protect your computer from new anti virus threats, fortunately this is easy to do as most anti virus software programs let you update their anti virus files over the internet.

So what is anti spyware software exactly? Well anti spyware software is another kind of security program which protects your computer against all kinds of undesirables, such as spyware, keystroke loggers, malware, tracking cookies, dialers, trojans and unwanted commercial software. All of these things should be removed from your computer so that your computer security is not compromised. A good quality antispyware software program will protect your identity from unscrupulous people, hackers and fraudsters so that you can have peace of mind.

A computer firewall is either a software program or a hardware device which only allows authorised users to access your computer system and stops all unauthorized users from gaining access to your computer through the internet or a network. So a firewall stops malicious users from accessing your system and this is absolutely essential if you use the internet, especially if you have an always on broadband connection on your computer. So which is better to have a software firewall or a hardware firewall? Well a software firewall will give you good firewall protection, but the absolute best firewall to have is a hardware one because this is even harder to get past for a malicious user.

So in summary, if you do not already have an antivirus program, an anti spyware program and a firewall, then you really should look into getting these things as they will save you a lot of hassle and worry in the future.