Q. What is a virus?
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| A. Basically a virus is
a small program that runs on your systems that can cause damage.
It is usually hidden in other programs on your computer so when
you go to run your program, the virus is then started. Viruses
don't always cause damage. Sometimes they will display annoying
messages taunting you with vulgar words or maybe they will
display a political message that the virus writer wants everyone
to know about.
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Q. How do I get a virus?
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| A. Just as with humans,
viruses are "contagious" and you can't get one if you keep your
computer isolated. If you share disks with a lot of people or
you download a lot of things from the Internet, then you are at
risk. Most people who have viruses don't realize it, so they
will send you a file and not notice that it has a virus. When
you open the file that your friend sent you your system then has
that virus. It can happen to anyone and getting a virus doesn't
mean that someone sent it to you on purpose.
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Q. What types of files
can be infected by a virus?
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| A. As of right now, a
virus can affect any file that actually does something. EXE and
COM files are programs, and they can be infected because they do
something. Data files that have macros in them can be infected
because the macros do something. Basically, anything that is
pure text data cannot be infected. |
Q. Can I get a virus
from software I bought at the store?
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| A. Although this is
highly unlikely, it is still possible. The same goes for
respected web sites such as shareware.com or download.com and
others. Even though these are respected companies, accidents do
happen and it is possible that viruses can unsuspectingly get
into their programs. |
Q. How do I protect
myself?
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| A. The best way to
protect yourself is to not share files with anyone. Of course
this isn't very realistic though and so the next best thing is
to get an anti-virus program. These programs run all of the time
and can check your system for viruses. When you go on-line they
can also check the files that you try to download. Both Symantec
and Network Associates produce good products. |
Q. OK. I bought Norton
Anti-Virus. Does this mean I can't get a virus now?
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| A. No, you can still get
a virus. New viruses are created everyday. It is possible that
you will run across a new virus. Also, each anti-virus program
comes with virus definitions. It is a list of known viruses.
Generally, an anti-virus program cannot detect a virus it
doesn't recognize. These virus lists are updated often by the
manufacturer and it is important to update it just as often.
Most anti-virus programs come with at least a year of free virus
definition updates. |
Q. My computer is acting
funny. I have a virus, right?
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| A. Probably not. Viruses
can make your system do strange things, but if your are having
your system freeze often or it crashes, the chances are it is a
hardware or software problem, not a virus. |
Q. What types of media
can a virus infect?
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| A. A virus can infect
any media that you can write to. Your floppy disks, your hard
disks, and your removable disks (like from Zip drive) can all
have infected files on them because you can save files to them.
A clean CD-ROM cannot become infected with a virus because it is
read-only. If you have a CD-W or CD-RW then it would be possible
for you to accidentally copy a virus to the CD. |
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These are just a few simple answers to some
simple questions. It is important to remember that you are
responsible for your own computer and you can't blame anyone
else if you get a virus. Be responsible by getting a virus
checker and updating the definitions often. |
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