Computer viruses are aptly named programs. Like biological viruses, they are harmful in nature, doing anything from bogging down the internet with excess data to deleting data in an infected computer. Also, just like biological viruses, they are self replicating and contagious in the sense that they can be transmitted from computer to computer.
Before anything else, you should buy or download an anti virus security program. A good security program should be able to do 2 things: One, it should be able to detect and block incoming viruses. Two, the program should be able to detect viruses that actually manage to infect your system, and should be able to clean these viruses out.
There are three major types of viruses known. It is best to be aware of these types, and know what steps can be taken to protect your computer against them.
One is the standard computer virus. These ride hidden in a normal program, and activate only when the program is accessed. The virus then spreads through the system by copying itself and infecting other programs it detects. Any good security system is primarily geared towards protection against generic viruses. However, new viruses are constantly being created by hackers, so the best defense against this is to find a security system provider that also remains up to date with the latest known types of viruses.
The second type of virus is the Email virus. These are viruses that reach your computer by hiding in an email. Once you access the email it activates the virus and proceeds to replicate by sending copies of itself to everyone in your address book. Email service providers have built in virus detectors to monitor incoming email, but the best defense is awareness. DON'T open emails from unknown sources, and in case you get an email from a trusted source with a title that looks suspicious, try confirming with the source if he or she did send the email before opening it.
Worms are the third type of security threat. These are computer programs that have the ability to copy themselves from terminal to terminal across the internet or even within a closed system like a local area network. Unlike regular viruses, worms copy themselves directly onto a computer without needing to ride hidden inside a file. Also, worms are dangerous because they are programmed to seek out specified loopholes in computer security programs, and use those weaknesses as an entry point to get into a system. Firewalls are the best means to deal with worms. Firewalls are programs that block out attempts by unknown computer sources to access your terminal.
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