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Viruses and Anti-Virus Programs

Viruses are programs that are intended to do bad things to your computer. Sometimes the bad things are minor, messages or something like that. Sometimes the bad things are very destructive to the computer. Most viruses also try to infect other computers in order to spread themselves. 

You would not intentionally run a program that was going to harm your computer. Viruses usually disguise themselves so you will run them by thinking they are one of your good programs or so you will run them without knowing that you are starting a program.

Why do people write these programs? Probably the challenge to see if they can do it. Ask a psychologist or a psychiatrist for the details.

How can you AVOID VIRUSES ? 

Know what you are running. Avoid running programs that you got for free, or that you downloaded from the Internet, at least until you have checked them with a virus detection program.

Watch out for attachments in your email ! ! ! If the attachment ends in .exe, .com, .js, .bat, .pf, (and many other endings), these are programs that can run on your computer. The best policy regarding attachments is; BEFORE YOU OPEN THE ATTACHMENT, check with the person that sent it and ask if they are aware that they sent it and what does it do? Asking if they know that they sent it might sound silly, but many viruses get into email and send themselves to everyone in the users list of names. The user probably does not even know that it happened. 

How can I find out if I have a virus?
What can I do if I have a virus?

The answer to both of these questions is to use a virus scanner program. Virus scanner programs will examine your computer, and look into all the files and programs on the hard drive (or floppy) to see if there are any viruses. In MOST BUT NOT ALL CASES, they will attempt to REMOVE THE VIRUS. If you are connected to the Internet or other things that expose your computer to the world, you should have a virus scanner. This is not an option any more. 

Virus scanners can usually be configured to run in the background and constantly watch for new viruses entering your computer. This is usually a good idea.

PESTS

There is another, similar type of program that causes problems. Very similar to viruses, they are called PESTS. Pests are usually not destructive, you usually will never know that you have them, and they can be scanning your computer and sending your information to someone else. The purpose might range from gathering marketing information all the way to stealing your private information. Anti-Virus software does not always look for these programs.

Some sources of Anti-Virus  and Anti-Pest software