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all about.....Computer Viruses

What is a virus?

    You've heard about them numerous times, through lab postings, e-mail warnings, and a dozen of other sources.  Yet, what exactly is a virus?  Viruses are programs which replicate themselves by attaching a copy of themselves to some other file.  Some of these viruses seem 'harmless', only printing a message on your screen.  Others are more powerful, rearranging information in files, or deleting files, or slowing your computer down.  How they attack your computer and the way they infect your computer categorizes viruses into several groupings.  The important thing to remember about viruses is that if the program they are attached to isn't run, neither will they.  Since we are sharing files with each other as part of this project, it is likely that someone in the system will have a virus at some point.  If you have a good antivirus program on your machine, scan regularly,  and are keeping the virus data files updated, you can minimize any risk to your machine and the information you have on it.

How can you avoid getting viruses?

If your system isn't completely isolated, you're likely to get a virus at some point or another.  So, the question to ask is not how to avoid it, but how to keep the virus from doing any damage to your system.

One of the best habits to get into is using antiviral products containing scanners.  Scanners are programs that recognize known viruses.  Because new viruses continue to be created, you want to keep the most recent version of the scanner on hand - in fact, some scanners refuse to work after they get too old, stating that the company's conscience simply won't allow them to allow you to continue using out of date software!  There are other ways to detect viruses as well.

Frequent scanning catches viruses before they are triggered!

Scanning is one of the most prevalent methods of detecting viruses.  Viruses are bits of code, and each virus has some sequence of code which sets it apart from other programs. Scanners have libraries with these code sequences which they compare to your files to see if anything there is a virus.  The problem with this method of virus detection is that it is an 'after the fact' type method.  New viruses will not be caught by scanners, until antiviral companies have a chance to analyze the new virus and put out a new version of their product.  Another consequence of this is that you need to upgrade your version of the antiviral package frequently to make sure that you are protected against the newest set of viruses.

Antiviral packages have more than one method of viral detection and often have a scanning component and an integrity checker.  The two or more pronged attack of anti-viral packages are one of the better methods of keeping your system virus free.  The following are several different companies which provide antiviral products.  Visit their homepages to pick up the latest copy of either their entire program or just their virus libraries.

Antiviral Software

There are many good antiviral products on the market.   We are not recommending any one in particular.  None of them are any good at all if you do not regularly update them.  Several of them have live update features which automatically "push" the update files to your desktop.  Here are a few to choose from:

Network Associates purchased Dr. Solomon software late in 1998.  They had purchased McAfee software earlier in the year.  Both are (were) leading antiviral software developers.  Visit their homepage to purchase or try their products.

McAfee Home:  www.mcafee.com

Total Virus Defense (Dr. Solomon's New Product) http://www.nai.com

Norton Antivirus http://www.symantec.com/nav/index.html

I Have a Virus, What DO I DO NOW?

Hopefully your virus checker spotted the virus and you cleaned the file. If this is the case, then relax--you are OK.  This is a good time though to do a full system scan though if you have not done one in awhile (or ever).

If not, and you have actually opened the file you now have an infected machine.

If this is the case, then IMMEDIATELY:

1. STOP sending files to other people--this means no sharing of floppy disks, sending Email attachments, etc.  If you are part of a network, notify your network administrator that you may have a VIRUS. Remember that any floppy disk, zip disk etc. that you insert into an infected machine can also become infected and spread the virus.
   
2. Run your virus protection program NOW.  Make sure that your virus files are updated first. T hat means that you have, within the past several weeks, gotten new versions of the data files.
   
3. If you do not have a VIRUS protection package installed, then do it NOW.
   
4. If you have saved to the server, shared a file, sent an Email attachment since opening the file  then you MUST inform the person whose machine you may have infected through your contact with their machine.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions

A Word About Virus Hoaxes

From time to time, rumors flood the net about hugely destructive viruses that threaten to destroy all your data, fry your hard drive, and maybe even burn your house down.  Most of them are pranks, or hoaxes.  Although some of them can look pretty real, there are a few ways to check them out.  Please, please do not pass them on to other people unless you have done this.  The project staff will send alerts if needed. By the way, expect to see a virus hoax or two on April Fool's Day.  It is something of an Internet tradition.

Hoax checking resources:

Stiller Research does a great job tracking the virus hoaxes.

F-Secure bills itself as the best on the net for this.

Norton publishes its own Hoax page.

Kumite publishes a list of hoaxes and some wonderful generic information about the practice.