Virus prevention and removal
Summary Description What would you do if a virus infected your computer? Newswire's 5 Minute Guides delivers some timely advice.
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Roullas Top10 Simon Vandore

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Article Topic 5 Minute Guides
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Story Group 000702
Post Date 03/07/2000 09:37 AM Status Posted Entered by Simon Vandore on 27/06/2000 08:46 PM


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How can I avoid email viruses like the love bug and Melissa?
A simple email message cannot be a virus. The virus always lies in a file attached to the email, such as an EXE or VBS or DOC file (these are just three examples). However, some viruses also manipulate an email program to send themselves as file attachments to every email address listed in the user's address book or inbox.
Occasionally someone may send an email enclosing a file they think will entertain you, or forward you a document to open in your word processor. This is where the danger lies. The file might look harmless or important, but it could be a virus in disguise.
The love bug contained a file attachment called love-letter-for-you.txt.vbs. If a person double-clicked on the attachment, the virus was activated. Melissa was contained in a Microsoft Word document. One of the most destructive email viruses, ExploreZip is contained in a file attachment called zipped_files.exe. New viruses surface all the time, so any file attachment could theoretically contain something malicious.
Caution is always the best solution. Avoid the temptation to run file attachments unless they have been scanned for viruses first. Alternatively, install an antivirus scanner which checks file attachments as they are opened.
What about other viruses?
Other viruses can also travel via email, even if they are not programmed to send themselves automatically. If someone who has a virus on their computer sends you a file via email, the virus may come with it.
Exchanging virus-infected files via email is really just the same as doing it over an office network or even via floppy disk! If you receive an infected program or document from someone else's computer by any means, you are placing your system at risk. Therefore you need to be prepared.
Examine the risk factors. Do other people use your PC? Do you sometimes transfer work from another computer? Is your PC on a network? Do people have shared access to your hard drive?
Prevention is better than cure, right?
Correct. There are many competent antivirus programs on the market. Most of them need to be installed on your own PC and can be configured to run in various ways. You might tell your antivirus software to look at a particular drive, or set it to scan everything once a week. It may have an option to scan on startup, scan files as they are downloaded from the Internet, or have a memory-resident option which scans for viruses constantly while you work. This may have an icon which resides in the Windows system tray.
The downside is that virus scanning software tends to slow down your PC, especially if you switch all the options on. Those who require every last ounce of performance from their PC tend to despise the memory-resident type of virus scanners and prefer to manually scan their files.
Antivirus software is also available for servers. For example, incoming email may be scanned by the mail server itself, in an attempt to ensure that infected file attachments don't even reach the user.
Most importantly, make sure that you regularly update your antivirus software with the latest virus definition information from the manufacturer's Web site. This will enable the software to catch even the newest virus types.
There's still a risk. How can I prepare?
One of the most important things to have in case of virus attack is a write-protected emergency boot disk created on a PC that is definitely free of viruses. This will enable you to start up your PC, even if everything on the hard drive has been damaged. You can make a basic one in Windows Explorer when you format a disk (select "copy system files"), but it's best to go into Control Panel and select Add/Remove Programs, then click on the Startup Disk tab. Follow the prompts to create a boot disk. If you know what you're doing in DOS you can create one with the Format command and add the correct autoexec.bat and config.sys files for your system.
It's also worth making another safe, write-protected disk containing basic antivirus software. Some antivirus programs will have a function which enables you to create this easily. If your hard disk is infected, you can scan and remove viruses by running this safe copy of your antivirus software from a floppy drive.
What if I actually get a virus?
Don't panic! If your antivirus software detects a virus, it will then help you to remove it. Often a virus can be cleanly removed before it causes any trouble. Even if it has already created problems, these can often be reversed by the antivirus software. If you previously had no antivirus software, or if your programs and data have been damaged by the virus infection, you may need to boot from an emergency disk and start the virus scanning and removal process from scratch. Follow the instructions provided by your antivirus package.
At the same time, you must contain your virus infection. This means quarantining infected PCs and any disks to which they had access. Make sure you remove every trace of the virus. Take infected computers off the network. Make sure everyone with whom you have recently exchanged files is made aware of your virus problem.
Take things one step at a time -- stop the virus spreading; contain it on your own machine; and then track down its source to eradicate it completely. If they can do it with real, live, organic viruses, surely you can stamp out an electronic one!


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What would you do if a virus infected your computer? Newswire's 5 Minute Guides delivers some timely advice.

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