Computer Infection - Types of Computer Infection
Do you keep getting virus infection signs on your computer? If you do, then you should be careful. Some signs are true while many are actually fake. How can you distinguish them?
The most common infection signs are pop ups from windows taskbar. However not all of them are fake. If the pop up is telling you to download an antispyware then it is fake. Do not download those antispyware because they are actually fake antispyware or rogue antispyware. They will not help you remove virus, contrary they will infect your computer further.
Here are some examples of possible false pop ups:
There are also some other signs you should be wary of. For example if your desktop settings or browser home page is altered without your consent. In some cases you will not be able to change them back. Other cases redirect the user to malicious websites which are often made to infect computers when visited.
The other obvious sign of virus infection is slow computer. If your computer is significantly slower than before you should be careful. Spyware and virus usually take up major processes in the system and make your computer slow.
Types of Computer Infection
Computer infections can be broken up into 4 main categories which are explained in detail below:
Viruses:
Computer Viruses are small pieces of software that attach themselves to real programs. An example would be a virus that attaches itself onto windows explorer. Each time you run the program windows explorer the virus will also be executed and perform the function that it was meant to perform. This can be several things such as damaging files on your computer, or erasing them all together. This is also the time in which the virus will try to spread itself onto other programs and even other computers!
Worms:
A worm just like a virus is a small piece of software. However worms rather than relying on an external program to function, will run themselves over computer networks and security holes to spread. The worm will scan the network from it’s host computer until it finds another computer that it can attach itself to. It will then continue this process to replicate. Because this type of infection runs by itself it can have devastating impacts. The Mydoom worm is estimated to have infected over a quarter million computers in a single day when it first launched back in March 1999.
Trojan Horses:
A Trojan horse is a computer programs that claims to be one thing, but is actually another. For example you might receive a Trojan horse that is disguised as an image, but when you go to open the file, it will do whatever it is that it was written to do.
E-mail Viruses:
Email Viruses are very common. They work by spreading themselves through email messages. Once they infect a computer, they will then go ahead and replicate themselves by automatically mailing out again to everyone in the victim’s e-mail address book. Several of these virus’s have raced through the internet. Examples of email virus’s are the Melissa Virus, and the ILOVEYOU virus.