What precautionary steps can you take to protect your computer from different viruses? Briefly explain in?

Question

this quistion is regarding computer and internet.Kindly send your nice comments

Answer 1

There are free spyware adn virus sweeps. Personally I use both AVG and Spybot. That's all I use. Other than never ever entering your password in links gotten from an email. If you get an email asking you to update your account MANUALLY type in the address that you NORMALLY use to access the site. Somewhere there will be a way to update from there. More than likely will be an announcement to you on the main page that you need to do so if its for real. NEVER EVER follow links in email to update information.

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

Rule #1. You do not forget to Upgrade your operating system
Rule #2. You do not forget to Upgrade your operating system
Rule #3. You do not forget to Upgrade your software that views or relies on the internet.
Rule #4 You do not install virus protection software recommended by a popup ad
Rule #5 You do not rely on 1 virus solution. Example, do not depend only on McCafe, use SpyBot S&D and/or Lavasoft Ad-Aware
Rule #6 You DO NOT browse the internet using Internet 6

And if you're viewing this in IE6 you should upgrade.

Answer 4

Go to http://www.download.com and download 3 programs (they are free.
adaware Se
spybot search and destroy
free avg antivirus

Install them one at a time, and run them one at a time,
reboot the computer
run them again.

First install free avg. after you have installed it, get rid of your virus program (this one is free, and better)

Next is spybot search and destroy (you need to install and run, reboot and run again) Also run this one every 2 weeks, but make sure you download updates first, then immunize, then search and destroy.

Next run adaware. This one needs to be run about every 2 weeks, more often if you go crazy on the internet. Click on the update icon (the world icon at the top) and download the updates, before running it each time). Then you have to click the boxes of the errors found, and then delete them.

Hope this is not too much information

Answer 5

a million. Use Firefox (unfastened) and do away with information superhighway Explorer 2. obtain ClamWin anti-virus (unfastened) 3. obtain and use Spybot (unfastened) 4. obtain and use secret agent ware Blaster (unfastened) 5. do no longer visit questionable information superhighway-websites 6. Use the Firefox pop-up blocker 7. do no longer open suspicious email 8. do no longer answer on line or email surveys

Answer 6

Fred Cohen "wrote the book" on computer viruses, through his Ph.D.
research, dissertation and various related scholarly publications. He
developed a theoretical, mathematical model of computer virus behaviour,
and used this to test various hypotheses about virus spread. Cohen's
formal definition (model) of a virus does not easily translate into
"human language", but his own, well-known, informal definition is "a
computer virus is a computer program that can infect other computer
programs by modifying them in such a way as to include a (possibly
evolved) copy of itself". Note that a program does not have to perform
outright damage (such as deleting or corrupting files) in order to be
classified as a "virus" by this definition.

The problem with Cohen's human language definition is that it doesn't
capture many of the subtleties of his mathematical model--as indeed, few
informal definitions do--and questions arise that can only be answered
by checking his formal model. Using his formal definitions, Cohen
classifies some things as viruses that most readers of Virus-L/
comp.virus (and many experts) would not consider viruses. For example,
given certain circumstances on an IBM PC running DOS, the DISKCOPY
program is classified as a virus by Cohen's formalisms.

This has led to some tension between what Cohen considers a "virus" and
what is usually discussed on Virus-L. Several other definitions of
"virus" have been proposed, but it is probably fair to say that most of
us are concerned about things that are viruses by the following
definition:

A computer virus is a self-replicating program containing code that
explicitly copies itself and that can "infect" other programs by
modifying them or their environment such that a call to an infected
program implies a call to a possibly evolved copy of the virus.

Probably the major distinction between Cohen's definition and "viruses"
as we tend to use the word is that we see them as deliberately designed
to replicate (although there is some debate over this too). Cohen's
definition does *not* require this (and this would be difficult to build
into his formal model).

Note that many people use the term "virus" loosely to cover any sort of
program that tries to hide its possibly malicious function and\or tries
to spread onto as many computers as possible, though some of these
programs may more correctly be called "worms" (see B2) or "Trojan
Horses" (see B3). Also be aware that what constitutes a "program" for a
virus to infect may include a lot more than is at first obvious--don't
assume too much about what a virus can or can't do!

These software "pranks" are very serious; they are spreading faster than
they are being stopped, and even the least harmful of viruses could be
life-threatening. For example, in the context of a hospital life-
support system, a virus that "simply" stops a computer and displays a
message until a key is pressed, could be fatal. Further, those who
create viruses can not halt their spread, even if they wanted to. It
requires a concerted effort from computer users to be "virus-aware",
rather than continuing the ambivalence that has allowed computer viruses
to become such a problem.

Computer viruses are actually a special case of something known as
"malicious logic" or "malware", and other forms of malicious logic are
also discussed in Virus-L/comp.virus. It can be important to understand
the distinctions between viruses and these other forms of malware.
Generally, there are two main classes of viruses. The first class
consists of the FILE INFECTORS which attach themselves to ordinary
program files. These usually infect arbitrary COM and/or EXE programs,
though some can infect any program for which execution or interpretation
is requested, such as SYS, OVL, OBJ, PRG, MNU and BAT files. There is
also at least one PC virus that "infects" source code files by inserting
code into C language source files that replicates the virus's function
in any executable that is produced from the infected source code files
(see E5 for a more detailed discussion of the issue of "executable"
code).

File infectors can be either DIRECT-ACTION or RESIDENT. A direct-action
virus selects one or more programs to infect each time a program
infected by it is executed. A resident virus installs itself somewhere
in memory (RAM) the first time an infected program is executed, and
thereafter infects other programs when *they* are executed (as in the
case of the Jerusalem virus) or when other conditions are fulfilled.
Direct-action viruses are also sometimes referred to as NON-RESIDENT.
The Vienna virus is an example of a direct-action virus. Most viruses
are resident.

The second main category of viruses is SYSTEM or BOOT-RECORD INFECTORS:
these viruses infect executable code found in certain system areas on a
disk. On PCs there are ordinary boot-sector viruses, which infect only
the DOS boot sector, and MBR viruses which infect the Master Boot Record
on fixed disks and the DOS boot sector on diskettes. Examples include
Brain, Stoned, Empire, Azusa and Michelangelo. All common boot sector
and MBR viruses are memory resident.

To confuse this classification somewhat, a few viruses are able to
infect both files and boot sectors (the Tequila virus is one example).
These are often called "MULTI-PARTITE" viruses, though there has been
criticism of this name; another name is "BOOT-AND-FILE" virus.

Aside from the two main classes described above, many antivirus
researchers distinguish either or both of the following as distinct
classes of virus:

FILE SYSTEM or CLUSTER viruses (e.g. Dir-II) are those that modify
directory table entries so that the virus is loaded and executed before
the desired program is. The program itself is not physically altered,
only the directory entry of the program file is. Some consider these to
be a third category of viruses, while others consider them to be a sub-
category of the file infectors. LINK virus is another term occasionally
used for these viruses, though it should be avoided, as "link virus" is
commonly used in the Amiga world to mean "file infecting virus."

KERNEL viruses target specific features of the programs that contain the
"core" (or "kernel") of an operating system (3APA3A is a DOS kernel
virus and is also multipartite). A file infecting virus that *can*
infect kernel program files is *not* a kernel virus--this term is
reserved for describing viruses that utilize some special feature of
kernel files (such as their physical location on disk or a special
loading or calling convention).

Answer 7

- Maintain a good antivirus program, set it for automatic updates, run a full scan frequently.
- Do not open e-mail from anyone you do not know.
- Be selective in surfing around.
- Don't respond to unwanted e-mail, definitely not to "unsubscribe." You are only confirming a valid e-mail address.

Go here for a couple of very good articles:

http://www.ehow.com/how_1678_protect-computer-viruses.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_113726_rid-e-mail.html

Answer 8

One antivirus, a couple of antispyware software, one firewall, and changing your online habits. This site has a list of free security tools if you need it. Good luck. http://www.basicspywaretips.com