Ten Viruses that Made Computers Take a Sick Day

This is a common virus threat that infects PC's with creating an autorun.inf file. This virus can be put in your system through flash drives or by downloading a file. The file contains information about programs that run automatically when removable devices are connected to the computer. To stop the threat the users should turn off the autorun feature that is turned on by default in the windows system. Also, remember to scan everyone's flash drive before you allow them access to your system.

Win32/ Psw.onlinegames

This virus is a major online threat that is associated with a family of Trojan viruses who's design is to cause trouble for Internet gamers by stealing their information which includes credentials, personal facts, and financial accounts. The information is then transported back to the hacker. Game players should alter their financial information by using a throw away card or refill card to do their Internet gaming sign ups, or purchases on line. That way their main accounts are safe from Internet gamer hacks.

Mellisa (email virus)

One of the most well known viruses creators was a man named David L. Smith. He created a computer virus so that it could spread through e-mail messages. Smith called the virus "Melissa," The Melissa virus told recipients that they had a file they were looking for and to open it. Once opened, the virus duplicates itself and sends emails to the top 50 people in the recipient's e-mail address book. Be careful who you receive messages from if they seem suspicious run them through a virus protection software to find out if they are really true. If in doubt erase the file.

I love you (worm)

Having someone out there that loves you was the basis of this virus, it attached itself to emails and sent out an email with a file attached that said it loved you and waited on you to open it. The attachment in the e-mail caused all the problems in your system, the file name of Love-Letter-For-You.Txt.vbs copied itself several times and would hide the copies in various folders on your hard drive. A good virus protection software would be great, but just don't accept love letters from anyone.

The Klez Virus

The Klez virus performed well where other viruses failed, it was introduced to the world in 2001. The Klez used what they call spoofing which sends out an email to one of your contacts by using another contact information to mask where the email was coming from. Trying to block one of your friends would be useless because you never know which friend it was coming from. This virus/worm set the bar high on virus to come after it, the program also carried other harmful programs to render the computer user's computer inoperable. All you can do with this one is be careful who your friends are and hopefully you know what type of mail the love to send you.

Code Red and Code Red II

­The Code Red and Code Red II exploited operating machines running Windows 2000 and Windows NT. The hackers used a method that is called a buffer overflow problem, which is when a operating systems receives more information than its buffers can handle, it starts to overwrite adjacent memory. The problem with that is that it allows the hacker to access your computer through a back door and steal information, or use your computer as a window to commit other crimes, and leave the trail pointing at you. Microsoft released software patches that addressed the security problem. Your system may not be clean afterward so get a good technician to clean it for you.

Nimda

Nimda (which is admin spelled backwards) worm. Nimda worm's main goal was to attack internet servers.. The virus could affect your PC, but its real purpose was to bring Internet traffic to a halt. The virus traveled through the Internet by using various sources, that is one of the reasons it was able to spread across the Internet so fast. The Nimda worm created a back door into the users operating system. By using this back door, if the person that activated the worm had limited access the hacker had the same access, but if the user had admin access then the hacker was able to access full control over that person's computer.

MyDoom

Another famous virus was the MyDoom (or Novarg) virus, it created back doors to the users computers operating system.. The My Doom virus had two phases to it which made it a complicated virus, that had people wondering about future viruses out there. The first phase started the virus to begin a denial of service (DOS) attack, which occurred on Feb. 1, 2004. Then without warning the second phase kicked in and ordered the virus to stop multiplying itself on Feb. 12, 2004. During the attack many back doors were created and allowed hackers to have a open window to infect at a later date and time. The virus worked like the other email replicating programs it used the spoofing technology, which it caused the search engines to become overloaded with request, and by doing that it would cause the search engine to crash.

Sasser and Netsky

A 17-year-old German named Sven Jaschan created the next two viruses called Sasser and Netsky and he put them onto the Internet causing great damage. The first one Sasser worm attacked the user computer through a Microsoft Windows fault in programming. Sasser didn't spread through emails like the other worms it infected the user computer and then contacted other computers and instructed them to download the virus. The virus was so good that it to did not just attack people in emails but it scanned IP addresses and infected random computers. The only way to stop the attack was to shut off your computer. On the other hand the Netsky virus traveled by e-mail and the Windows network, it used the famous method of spoofing e-mail addresses. When a computer became infected it caused a denial of service (DOS) attack as systems collapsed, because they couldn't handle all the Internet traffic.

Storm Worm

The most recent worm goes by several names, and it depends on what company you talk to which name you will hear. Symantec calls it Peacomm, and with McAfee it's known as Nuwar. The Storm Worm is what they call a Trojan horse program. Some hackers use the Storm Worm to create a botnet and use it to send spam mail across the Internet. One of my co-workers computer was used in this way, he had to change his whole account, and get his computer cleaned. This virus trick people into downloading it by sending the user fake news stories or videos. If you keep your anti-virus programs up to date and don't open strange e-mails with false promises, then your system will be alright.

The various malware terminology of computer infections:

• spyware - spies on the user and keep track of the users key strokes to find login codes and passwords.

• Adware - Keeps track of the users whereabouts when shopping on line, and sends information back to source for ad steering when browsing.