Computer Viruses

What are computer viruses?

• Viruses are small programs that hide themselves on your disks (both diskettes and your hard disk).

• Unless you use virus detection software the first time that you know that you have a virus is when it activates.

• Different viruses are activated in different ways.

How do viruses infect PCs?

• Viruses hide on a disk and when you access the disk (either a diskette or another hard disk over a network) the virus program will start and infect your computer.

• The worst thing about a computer virus is that they can spread from one computer to another, either via use of infected floppy disk, or over a computer network, including the Internet.

How to prevent virus damage?

• There are a number of third party antivirus products available.

• Most of these are better than the rather rudimentary products available within DOS and Windows, but of course you do have to pay for them!

• The main thing about your virus checker is that it should be kept up to date.

• Many companies supply updated disks on a regular basis or allow you to receive updates through an electronic, on-line bulletin board.