The Many Faces of Viruses Fargo ND

Posted by : Stephen J. Bigelow

Q: What's the difference between a virus, a worm, and a Trojan horse?

A: A virus is some piece of programming (including "computer code" and macros) that, when executed, causes one or more negative effects on your PC. These negative effects can include the loss of files, reformatting of your hard drive, the transfer of private information over the Internet, and a wide range of other possible effects. Viruses also tend to replicate, infecting other files, which increases the chances of that virus spreading to other PCs via such media as floppy disks, CD-R discs, and Internet file transfers.

A worm is specific kind of virus that typically replicates itself using addressing features of e-mail clients, such as the address book or the sent-mail box. Where many viruses can only be spread via one person sending another person an infected file, worms can spread automatically, without the knowledge or consent of the sender.

The best way to protect your PC or network from viruses and worms is to install antivirus software, make sure that the software is always running in memory, and always keep the software's virus definition files updated (refer to the antivirus user's guide for detailed instructions).

Finally, a Trojan horse is a kind of virus that masquerades as a useful piece of software. For example, you may have received messages urging you to download a program that promises to find conflicts on your machine and fix them. It m...

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