Computer Viruses and How to Avoid Getting Infected

 

Computer viruses, hackers, crackers, data crime. They make headline news and – so

the media claim – cost us millions. But do viruses and all the other nasties in

cyberspace matter? Do they really do much harm? 

 

If you’re in any doubt, just try imagining what could happen in your office or home. Imagine that no one has updated your anti-virus software for a few months. When they do, you find that your accounts spreadsheets are infected with a new virus that changes figures at random. Naturally you keep backups. But you might have been backing up infected files for months. How do you know which figures to trust? Now imagine that a new email virus has been released.

 

Your company is receiving so many emails that you decide to shut down your email gateway altogether … and miss an urgent order from a big customer. Suppose that you’ve been studying at home for an MBA. You’ve almost finished your dissertation when one of your children puts a new game on your PC and infects it. The virus deletes everything on the hard drive … including all your hard work. Imagine that a friend emails you some files he found on the internet. You open them and trigger a virus that mails confidential documents to everyone in your address book … including your competitors.

 

Finally, imagine that you accidentally send another company a report that carries a virus. Will they feel safe to do business with you again? Such incidents have all happened. In

every case, simple precautions, some of which cost nothing, could have prevented the

problem. The Safe Computing Guidelines below explores preventative measures that you can take to avoid such virus threats.

 

 

What exactly is a virus?

A computer virus is a computer program that can spread across computers and networks by making copies of itself, usually without the user’s knowledge.

 

Viruses can have harmful side effects. These can range from displaying irritating messages to deleting all the files on your computer.

 

How does a virus infect computers?

A virus program has to be run before it can infect your computer. Viruses have ways of making sure that this happens. They can attach themselves to other programs or hide in code that is run automatically when you open certain types of files. You might receive an infected file on a disk, in an email attachment, or in a download from the internet. As soon as you launch the file, the virus code runs. Then the virus can copy itself to other files or disks and make changes on your computer.

 

How do you avoid getting infected?  By practicing safer computing.

 

As well as keeping your anti-virus software up-to-date there are other ways in which you can reduce the chances of virus infection inside your company and at home. Below we list some of the guidelines you might like to consider for safer computing.

 

 

• Use Rich Text Format instead of DOC files which can harbor viruses. You can automatically save all of your Word documents as RTF by selecting Tools|Options|Save and choosing Rich Text Format as the default format from the drop down menu.

 

• Do not run, download or forward any unsolicited executables, documents, spreadsheets, etc. Anything that runs on your PC should be virus checked and approved first.

 

• Any email you weren't expecting should be treated with suspicion, even if it comes from someone you know. It is worth calling whoever sent it to you to check that they intended to send you the email.

 

• Do not open any files with a double file extension, (e.g. iamavirus.txt.vbs). Under normal circumstances you should never need to receive or use these.

 

• Do not download executables or documents from the internet. These are often used to spread computer viruses.

 

• Although JPG, GIF and MP3 files cannot be infected with a virus, viruses can be disguised as these file types. Jokes, pictures, graphics, screensavers and movie files should be treated with the same amount of suspicion as other file types.

 

• If in doubt, always ask your IT department for advice, do not open the file or email.

 

• If you think you have been infected with a virus inform your IT department immediately. Do not panic or interrupt other users.

 

• Any virus warnings or hoaxes should be sent to the IT department who can confirm whether or not it is genuine. Do not forward these warnings to anyone else; unless you are signed up to an official virus alert service it is unlikely to be a genuine warning.

 

• If you have to work at home ensure that you follow the same procedures there as you do at work. Viruses can easily be brought into an organization along with work that has been done on a home PC.

 

Anti-virus software will prevent the vast majority of viruses from entering an organization but it is not foolproof. It is your responsibility to ensure that you don't get infected with a computer virus.