I just hope that I find out the cause of this
problem so other people who do not have computers at home will not suffer
like
me...
I've been fortunate that I haven't really had any
problems with computer viruses infecting my computer. The only experience
that I've had with any virus was at the Porteus computer lab. It
seemed that a diskette that I had was infected by one of the computers
in there. Luckily, the virus never spread to my computer at home.
I own a Mac, and I was at the PC lab. I found out that my disk was
infected when I used a friends computer. I don't have the slightest
idea of what kind of virus it was. My friends computer was equipped
with a virus checker, and it cleaned up my infected disk.
None of my friends that I spoke to have encountered
problems with viruses because their computers are all equipped with a virus
scanning program and some type of anti virus (virus removal program).
The thought of a virus infecting my computer is
quite bothersome. I currently do have a virus checker on my computer,
but I'm worried that these viruses have become so sophisticated that my
anti virus programs will be useless.
Edupage Online, December 1997:
DOE ISSUES WARNING ON CRACKER TOOLS
The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a bulletin
warning that two new computer
attack tools, known as Teardrop and Land, are being used maliciously by
crackers intent on breaking into
computer systems and networks. The software sniffs out vulnerable
servers and launches attacks based
on the "denial-of-service" strategy that overwhelms servers with bogus
messages, blocking out legitimate
traffic. "They hit the button and go down to the cinema with their
girlfriends," says a senior systems
consultant with the Defense Information Systems Agency. "They come
back and see that they have looked
at 200,000 systems." (TechWeb 24 Dec 97)
Computer viruses are programs that are designed to "infect" and wreak havoc on it's host computer/system. These programs are able to replicate themselves and spread from computer to computer. Some viruses completely erase files on a computer and other types may just travel from file to file without causing any harm.
Computer viruses may work in many different ways.
A virus may be designed to completely erase files, destroy a hard drive,
move files around, or messing up files (i.e. inserting nonsense words,
rearranging the document, deleting certain parts of the file, etc...).
It all depends on who designed them and what that person's intent was.
As to date, computer viruses are known to work in
three different ways.
The first type is the "boot sector" virus.
This virus only applies to systems that require a boot (or loading/start
up) disk. The virus affects the computer when it boots (loads) or
reboots (reloads).
The second is a "program" virus. These viruses
attach themselves to files associated with particular programs such as:
Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, Excel, etc... .
Finally the third type is a "macro" virus.
This virus affects files by infecting the template used to create documents
(i.e. Microsoft Word) or spreadsheets (i.e. Excel).
Here's a list of famous viruses that are known to exist:
Virus myths (or hoaxes) are spread via e-mail on on the internet. A hoax usually reports that downloading or opening a particular file/program/message will expose your system to a virus. I really wouldn't worry too much about myths and hoaxes because most anti virus or virus checkers programs can detect and treat most known viruses. So to be on the safe side; and if you don't want to risk anything on your system; it would be wise to do a systems check and scan your computer every once in while, preferably after downloading or opening suspicious looking files.
Some may think that computer viruses are rather insignificant
and not very harmful, but before you dismiss the threat of viruses, it
would be wise to reconsider. For many people, such as myself; who
are casual computer users; the threat and potential damage of a virus is
rather minimal. If my system gets infected, no problem. I don't
have too much to lose. But just imagine what harm could come to people
if some super virus came along and infected high level security corporate
or top secret government files. The results could be disastrous and
possibly put the lives of millions in danger. I know that it's not
a nice thought, but it's possible that something like this could actually
happen. Scary thought isn't it?
The most common response to a virus is frustration.
Since most viruses erase data or files, it can be rather upsetting to search
your hard drive and not find what you're looking for due to an infected
system.
As with the first report, there are similarities in with all other reports of those from my generation. Some chose to insert images and watermarks into their reports. As for myself, well I'd rather stick to very few, if any, images in my reports. In the beginning it was because I did not know how to incorporate them into my page. Once I learned how, I noticed that it drastically increased the loading time of my page. As I scanned through various reports from previous generations I must admit that pages with images and interesting designs caught my attention. But after looking at numerous pages, I grew impatient because of the slow loading of the pages that included images. As I looked through the reports I began to appreciate the actual content of a report over the glitz and imagery of fancy pages. I guess I'm a supporter of the of the KISS approach to doing work and research.
(p.s. for all of you who don't know... KISS stands for Keep It
Simple Stupid!...)
I have to admit that prior to this report I really haven't given to much thought about computer viruses. But after searching through countless articles and reading some of the horror stories that are associated with viruses, computer viruses are now somewhat of a concern to me. It makes me think about what kind of people are out there in cyberspace? It's kind of scary to think that someone can have such a negative effect on so many people right from the comfort of their own computer anywhere in the world. Oh well..., cyberspace will only be as good as those who dwell in it. Just like anything else, we have to learn to accept the good along with the bad and adjust to whatever new obstacle cyberspace may throw our way.
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