Geek Spot Number 10 By Jeff Timm
Hi! I’m Jeff Timm, personal computer user since 1983. My wife Holly insisted I share my knowledge and answer your basic computer hardware questions.
Trojan Horses, Viruses, and Worms, Oh My!
Definitions from http://www.getvirushelp.com/
A Trojan horse (a.k.a. Trojan) is a program that appears to do something amusing or useful and actually does something else. It may destroy data or compromise your systems security. However, a Trojan horse does not replicate itself or transmit itself to other computers.
A virus is a program that carries out a specific function and infects other programs in the process. In many cases the whole function of the virus is to replicate itself, nothing more. Other viruses rewrite data files making them useless.
A worm is a virus that does not infect other programs. It still replicates itself to other computers, but will always arrive in the same program.
Amateurs and experts now believe the ILOVEYOU virus was an amateurish attempt at computer sabotage. If real professional programmers, working for Government level organizations produce a real war quality virus – be afraid, be very afraid. To protect yourself from infections be careful with mail messages and where you download software on the web. The ILUV carrier message alerted me; 1. It was in my official government mailbox twice. 2. The title was business inappropriate (ILOVEYOU) 3. I wasn’t expecting any attachments from a women I didn’t know in Wichita and 4. The preview of the first 4 lines (an MS Outlook Option) showed NOTHING at all. I deleted the messages unopened and didn’t have a problem, other people weren’t so paranoid. This virus caused Billions and Billions of Dollars in lost time and productivity around the world to avoid joining those people who are still rebuilding years of work follow a few simple suggestions.
PC Magazine (online) has reviewed virus software
http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/stories/reviews/0,6755,2531526,00.htmlThey recommend Norton Anti-virus 2000.
The well-known business software company Computer Associates (they have been around longer than Microsoft) has a free AV program available. I have downloaded it and installed it on two computers, including my personal machine, reports to follow.
(Advertising extract) FREE Antivirus for your PC Download InoculateIT Personal Edition Software Download the Latest InoculateIT Signature Files from: http://antivirus.cai.com/
On-line, TV and print media computer commentator John Dvorak has a few direct comments about the spread of the ILY virus at http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/stories/opinions/0,7802,2564929,00.html
The official US Government Anti-virus sites, all full of technical talk and such, Carnegie-Mellon University at http://www.cert.org/ and The National Infrastructure Protection Center at http://www.nipc.gov/
The most basic thing a Windows 95 / 98 user can do to protect their system is the on line update feature in Internet Explorer 5.0. Go online, select from the menu Tools Windows update. Then follow the instructions on the page. I recommend doing this very early in the morning or very late at night when Microsoft’s Server is less busy. I recommend installing ALL critical updates the system finds and all device drivers. I recommend NOT installing Beta versions of software also available on site. Always reboot your system after changing security settings in any program or installing new software or updates. After installing Windows updates your computer may slow down, this is normal as it configures itself for best performance.
Please, if something does go wrong with your computer it may or may not be a virus. If you suspect a message might contain a virus DON’T FORWARD IT TO YOUR FRIENDS OR ME ASKING FOR AN OPINION!