Blaster, Welchia, Sobig, W32, Backdoor, Trojan, Melissa, Klez, Worm, Loveletter, Nimda... Do these names sound Familiar?
Have you been as bothered by viruses this past year as I have? Does it seem like there are more viruses, worms and Trojans out now then ever before? It is only getting worse.
For the general public, "virus" has become a catchall term for any unwanted program that spreads from computer-to-computer; yet, in reality, there are differences between viruses, worms and Trojan horses.
Worms reside in active memory, are self replicating, and usually use native operating system components to do so. Trojans are programs in which malicious or harmful code is contained inside apparently harmless programming or data. Viruses are pieces of programming code that cause some unexpected and usually undesirable event. All of them can really ruin your day.
Everyone who uses a computer can catch a virus. Borrowing disks, swapping floppies, moving data from one machine to another, sending and receiving e-mail, the list goes on. If you use the Internet, your chances increase, even if you use a dial-up modem. Some viruses can be caught just by visiting infected websites.
There are over 50,000 active viruses today. But on any given day, only a few hundred viruses pose a serious threat to your computer. Some of the most destructive--Melissa, Love Letter, and more recent Blaster--caused millions of dollars in damage.
Have you been as bothered by viruses this past year as I have? Does it seem like there are more viruses, worms and Trojans out now then ever before? It is only getting worse.
For the general public, "virus" has become a catchall term for any unwanted program that spreads from computer-to-computer; yet, in reality, there are differences between viruses, worms and Trojan horses.
Worms reside in active memory, are self replicating, and usually use native operating system components to do so. Trojans are programs in which malicious or harmful code is contained inside apparently harmless programming or data. Viruses are pieces of programming code that cause some unexpected and usually undesirable event. All of them can really ruin your day.
Everyone who uses a computer can catch a virus. Borrowing disks, swapping floppies, moving data from one machine to another, sending and receiving e-mail, the list goes on. If you use the Internet, your chances increase, even if you use a dial-up modem. Some viruses can be caught just by visiting infected websites.
There are over 50,000 active viruses today. But on any given day, only a few hundred viruses pose a serious threat to your computer. Some of the most destructive--Melissa, Love Letter, and more recent Blaster--caused millions of dollars in damage.