Ceil's Virus FAQ Page
Viruses and spyware can be extremely dangerous and can really mess up the
performance of your machine. If you haven't gotten burnt yet, you are lucky! You
would be very smart to put anti-virus and anti-spyware on your machine as soon
as possible.
It doesn't take long to get the software and I bet you will be surprised what
you have the first time you run it!
UWM provides free virus software (McAfee), with free weekly updates of the
virus definitions. The software can be downloaded by anyone with an alpha ID.
Use the following link:
http://www.uwm.edu/IMT/purchase/virusprotect.html You need a UWM
connection to download this from home OR you can also go to the Second floor
SBA lab or Bolton Lab 225 and get the Campus Resource CD which has the virus
scan protection software on it.
There is also a free online virus scan that works while you are hooked up to
the web. It is called house call available at:
http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
Many of my students are complaining about Spyware (Adware)--which are
programs being placed on your computer to track where you go and what you
purchase. Spyware can cause significant performance issues and annoying
pop up messages. A free spyware detection program recommended by one of my
computer tech students is Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition. It is
available at http://www.lavasoft.de/ look
for the free download link.
If you would like to learn more about viruses, keep reading.
This FAQ provides some general information about viruses, as well as links to
other virus information on the internet. The FAQ is organized into the
following sections:
What Is A Virus?
How Does A Virus Work?
How Do I Get A Virus
How Do I Protect Myself? (It's
FREE!)
What Is A Virus?
In general, a virus is a computer program, just like any other program you
have used. The differences is that viruses have been programmed to be
harmful. Viruses can range from mildly annoying to those that may damage
millions
of dollars worth of time and data each day.
How Does A Virus Work?
As mentioned above, a virus is a computer program. This means a virus has
to be executed. There are two fairly common types of viruses:
- Executable Virus
-
As the name suggests, this virus works by infecting executable files.
Executables generally included files with extensions of .vbs, .exe,
.com, .sys,
.dll, .bat, .reg, and others. DO NOT OPEN ANY OF THESE FILES
UNLESS YOU KNOW THE PERSON AND HAVE VIRUS SCANNED THE FILE! Another
area that the executable virus
looks to infect is the boot sector of either a hard disk or a floppy disk.
In order for an executable virus to do any damage, it must first be loaded
into the computer's memory. It accomplishes this as follows:
- Attaches itself to an executable file, thereby infecting it.
- Sits on that executable file, going unnoticed, while waiting for you to
execute that file.
- Once the infected file is executed, the virus is executed itself. That
is, the virus is loaded into the computer's memory.
- Once in memory, the virus program can operate, carrying out the
instructions of the progammer.
An executable virus may attach to the boot sector of a hard disk or floppy
disk. This boot sector virus is much more serious than other viruses since
it loads automatically into memory and can begin working each time you start
your computer.
- Macro Virus
- A macro virus is a virus that needs another computer program before it
can operate. Generally, you will only find Macro viruses infecting Microsoft
Word and Excel. This is because these programs use a Visual Basic module for
running their macros.
When the virus attacks the Word or Excel document, it sits in the document and
waits until you open the document with Word or Excel. Once you open the
document, the macro runs, and the virus is now loaded into the computer's
memory and can begin doing it's work.
Macro viruses, such as the Word Macro Virus,
often infect more than the document. Word has a set of templates, (.dot
files), that it uses. The most common file is normal.dot. A Word
Macro Virus will often not only infect the document you are working on, but
will try to infect Word's Normal template as well. This insures two things:
- Any document created within that template will be infected.
- Any infected documents that are opened on other (non-infected) computers
will infect those computers
as well.
If your computer ever asks you to save change to the Normal.dot
template say No and stop using that file!!!
[Back to What Is A Virus?]
[Back to FAQ Page]
How Do I Get A Virus?
There are several myths about how one actually receives a virus. The object
of this section is to present you with the truth about how viruses are
transferred from one computer to another, and then cover some common myths
concerning the transmission of viruses. One thing to keep in mind while
reading this section is:
Once a virus has been detected, preventive measures can be taken to
prevent further damage. A virus can only do large scale damage if it is transmitted to many
computers. As long as you follow the preventive measures outlined in this
FAQ, you can help minimize the spread of viruses.
That aside, the two most common ways of transferring a virus from one
computer to another are:
- Receiving Infected Programs/Data Files - Today, the internet
is the most common vehicle for virus
transmission. Viruses typically spread through email
infections.
Email
An email message alone cannot contain infected data. As mentioned above,
a
virus needs to be executed in some manner. Since an email message is all
text, there is nothing to execute, and thus, nothing for a virus to attach
itself to. However, it is possible to attach programs and/or data files
to email messages. If these programs and data files are infected, the
virus will be transferred to the receiver's computer. Common email
messages containing infected attachments say "Hi how are you?" or "Can you
please look at this?" or "Can you please give me your opinion on the
attached file?" or any other message asking you to open an attachment. It
may even come from someone you know whose email account has been
"taken over" by a virus and is now sending out messages on its own!
DON'T OPEN THIS ATTACHMENT!!!
AGAIN, YOU CANNOT GET A VIRUS BY SIMPLY USING THE INTERNET. As
mentioned before, you must actually receive and act upon something that
is infected, such as an infected floppy diskette or file. Remember,
the Ema$
viruses, it's the programs or data files attached to the email that
contain
the viruses.
- Floppy Diskette
Another common way of transferring
viruses is by copying infected material onto or from floppy disks. This
usually occurs when someone seeks to exchange programs/data with a friend,
collegue, or
teacher! This also occurs when someone saves programs/data on a diskette
for use on another computer. An infected diskette will infect files when
used on the next computer.
[Back to What Is A Virus?]
[Back to FAQ Page]
Protecting Yourself From Virus Damage
- Be Wary When You Receive Information From Others
A good thing to begin doing NOW is to check all files received from others,
whether you receive them from a floppy diskette or from the internet. It is important
to realize that most viruses are transferred without the knowledge of the
person sending the information. The person sending an infected file
could be you! To help
prevent the spread of viruses, it is also a good idea to scan any files
before transferring them to a floppy diskette or attaching them to an email
message. Obtain a good virus scanning program for performing these tasks
(described below). A good virus scanning program will not only detect and
remove viruses, but will automate several of the procedures described above
(such as scanning files before they are copied to a diskette).
- Obtain A Good Virus Scanner
UWM provides free virus software (McAfee), with free weekly updates of
the virus definitions. the software can be downloaded by anyone with an
alpha ID. Use the following link:
http://www.uwm.edu/IMT/purchase/virusprotect.html You need a UWM
connection to download this from home. OR you can also go to the
Second floor SBA lab or Bolton Lab 225
and get the Campus Resource CD which has the virus scan protection
software on
it.
There is also a free online virus scan that works while you are hooked
up to the web. It is called house call available at:
http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
Spybot -- Free
spyware destroyer
Spy Sweeper --
Free spyware destroyer
- Backup
Regular backups are an important measure against preventing loss from
computer viruses. This is true even if you are backing up the virus that
eventually caused the damage. Why would this be so? Well, lets say you get
a computer virus that destroys all of your data on your hard drive.
Fortunately,
you've got a backup that you made yesterday. Although you know the virus is
in the backup, you can safely restore all of your data, obtain one of the
virus scanners listed above, and remove the virus before continuing with
your work.