What's up with viruses and worms?

Question

I know I'm old and stupid, but what's up with viruses, worms and trogan horses? Who puts them in there and why do they do it? Are these people who don't have a life, or is it something I'll never understand?

Answer 1

VIRUSES:
A virus is a malicious computer program or programming code that replicates by infecting files, installed software or removable media. A virus usually carries a destructive payload, which varies depending on the virus author’s intentions. A typical virus infects, corrupts or deletes files and folders, damages the system, drops other dangerous parasites, steals or discloses user sensitive information. Extremely dangerous viruses can also wipe out all the data from hard disks and even severely damage certain computer hardware devices.

By replication approaches viruses are divided into three main categories:
1. parasites called file infectors are designed to propagate by infecting or corrupting various files;
2. threats known as boot record infectors spread through removable media containing infected executable code and insert themselves into the master boot record (MBR) on hard disks;
3. widely spread macro viruses affect certain applications such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel and infect documents that can contain macros.

Some viruses do not belong to any of these categories, as they combine features and functions specific to more than one virus type. Such threats, sometimes called hybrid viruses, can infect both files and master boot record and replicate by attaching malicious code to user documents. These parasites are very difficult to completely get rid of, as they usually consist of several components, which automatically reinstall each other after the user have found and removed few of them.

Many viruses have extra features, which allow them to escape detection by antivirus software. Such threats use several approaches to stay hidden. Some of them, known as stealth viruses, monitor antivirus software activity and intercept its requests to the operating system. When the antivirus attempts to check an infected file, the virus immediately passes the original clean variant of that file, so the antivirus is unable to find any malicious code in it. Other parasites, called polymorphic viruses, are able to mutate continuously modifying their code, so that two files infected by the same pest have no common parts. Polymorphic viruses are extremely difficult to detect.

WORMS:
A worm is a malicious self-replicating computer program designed to infect multiple remote computers in attempt to deliver a destructive payload. A typical worm spreads by e-mail, in file sharing networks or through unprotected network shares. Widely spread complex parasites usually propagate themselves by exploiting certain security vulnerabilities in the targeted remote system. Most worms can infect and corrupt files, degrade overall system performance and security, steal user sensitive information or install other dangerous parasites such as backdoors or trojans. Worms are very similar to regular computer viruses and therefore can have different malicious functionality.

TROJAN HORSES:
A trojan (or trojan horse) is a malicious computer program that is disguised as a harmless application or is secretly integrated into legitimate software. It usually carries a destructive payload. A trojan gets silently installed and hides from the user. These parasites are very similar to the regular viruses and therefore are quite difficult to detect and completely disable. Originally trojans were not intended to replicate by themselves. However, some recent threats have additional components, which enable their propagation. The trojan’s payload varies depending on its author’s intentions. It usually provides the attacker with unauthorized remote access to a compromised computer, infects files and damages the system, drops other dangerous parasites or steals user sensitive information.

hope this helps you.

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

Part of it is people who simply love to put other's in misery. They feed off of the distress of others. They are crap.

Other's are people trying to make a living using criminal methods. They actully advertise their "services" under the guise of "increas traffic to your website" type of "services". What they do is utilize adware and spyware to force advertising in the form of popups, browser hijacks, and other methods. They too are just plain crap. They do no real service to webmasters who want legitimate traffic to their sites.

Sites that use these services need to be told what they have paid for! Perhaps then tey will help spread the word.

A major player in the adware game is (or perhaps was) Zango. They used to be metrics direct and possibly 180solutions.

You can find out more on the resource link below where you will see they have a very low rating and have been reported as spreading adware.

Answer 4

they corupt the system and some steal information and cause nothing but problems. These are the electronic threats that can be deadly to a system.

Answer 5

they do it because there ++++ING stupid