HELP/ FAQ's

About Viruses

what is a virus | how does one get a virus | protect your pc | where to get software | hoaxes

What is a virus?

A virus is a program designed to corrupt other programs and alter the way they work. The impact of a virus can range from making your computer crash during certain operations, to deleting important files, possibly rendering your computer inoperable. A virus may attach itself to a program such as Excel, Word etc. Each time the program runs, the virus runs too and in some cases, it reproduces itself by attaching to other programs.

The most common type of viruses are:

E-mail viruses - An e-mail virus moves around in e-mail messages, and usually replicates itself by automatically mailing itself to people in the victim's e-mail address book. Most times, the computer owner is unaware that their computer is randomly sending infected mail to other users.

Worms - A worm is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the network for another machine that has a specific security hole. It copies itself to the new machine using the security hole, and then starts replicating from there too.

Trojan horses - An insidious and usually illegal computer program that masquerades as a program that is useful, fun, or otherwise desirable for users to download. Once the program is run, it performs a destructive act. This usage is derived from the wooden horse in which, according to legend, the Greeks hid and gained access to Troy.

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How do viruses get into your computer?

Viruses get into your computer when you load infected software into it (from the Internet, for example) and then run the program. Since viruses embed themselves into the code of software, they are harmless until the infected program is actually started (executed). Although you can't get a virus from an e-mail message, you can get one from an attached file that is sent along with that e-mail message.

Once you have started an infected application or opened an infected file, the virus in it can spread to other applications and files on the computer. If this happens, software or files you send to friends, family, or coworkers via diskette, the Internet, or Local Area Network may be infected , passing the virus to their computers.

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How does one protect their computer?

You can find out whether your computer has a virus by using virus-protection software to scan your hard drive. If the virus protection software finds an infection, it will warn you, providing the option of either removing or ignoring it.

There are also sites on-line that will scan your drive through the Internet. Both Trend Micro, and Symantec offer such a service.

Once you've purged your computer of viruses, the next step is to prevent subsequent infection. Most virus-protection software can be set to scan your computer's hard drive automatically, checking any file before it is opened. This effectively immunizes your system.

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Where can one get antivirus software?

There are two ways to get antivirus software; you can either pop into our store to get your copy, which comes packaged complete with applicable software and manuals, or you can download a program from the Internet (most companies allow you a free 30-day trial).

If you want to download antivirus software from the Internet, take a look at Norton AntiVirus (http://www.symantec.com) or McAfee Virus Scan (http://www.mcafee.com) . Another good piece of antivirus software available online is Norman Virus Control (http://www.norman.com).

For antivirus software to work effectively, it is essential that you keep updating your copy of it, since there are always new viruses being produced. If you don't update your virus definitions regularly, your antivirus software might not be able to detect a recently developed virus. To find out about updates, read your software's printed or online documentation.

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Where can one find out if a virus is a hoax?

Unfortunately, there are many people out there who want to make you believe you're more at risk than you really are when it comes to getting viruses off the Internet. There are probably as many hoaxes as actual viruses going around online. It is important to reiterate that viruses cannot infect e-mail messages themselves , Web pages, or any text files. So, if someone tells you that visiting a certain Web site or reading a piece of e-mail will crash your computer because of a virus, you know it's a hoax.

If you are warned about a virus and want to verify if it is real or not, you can visit one of the many web sites that keep track of and research computer viruses. Both Norton's and McAfee have very informative sites on this topic.

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