what do viruses actually do? how did they start? how did they get into a computer?

Question

i mean, if i have a virus in my computer, what is it actually doing and why?
where did they start, who created them?
how the hell would one of them get there?

Answer 1

Viruses are malicious code written by and spread by people who have nothing better to do than exploit Mr. Gates operating system security holes, i.e. Windows in any form. PC's are especially vulnerable due to their popularity and ease of compromise. You probably got a virus through indiscriminate downloading from sites like Limewire or Myspace, or many others, which are ripe with viruses. If you insist on visiting questionable sites, you have to run at least two anti-virus programs, five or more anti-spyware programs, and a VERY good firewall. All of the above are available on the Net for FREE. Save your $ and don't fall into the trap that Norton or McAffee set for manditory yearly "upgrades" that do nothing but empty your wallet.

Answer 2

Had my first experience with a virus 15 years ago when I brought work home from the office. I worked at a university where my supervisor let the students use my computer and printer after hours. Their disks, of course, had been all over the place.

Windows would not load. I was new to PCs at the time and took it in to a tech. He brought Windows up somehow but after each file it said "stoned." Had to have my PC reformatted and reloaded.

Viruses probably started when some malcontent got bored and thought he could have some fun by making life miserable for the rest of us.

To prevent viruses as best you can:
- have a good antivirus program installed to run at startup and have it set to automatically update
- be careful if you allow anyone to use your computer
- if you take work in to school or the office, and bring it home, scan the disk before you leave for home and again when you get home. Set your computer to scan a: drive (or whatever) before you insert the disk.
- when online, do not open attachments from anyone you do not trust 100%.
- do not click on questionable links.

Then pray.

Answer 3

Viruses started as small annoyances. What it actually does is a technical blurb.

What does it do to you is more important. And that depends upon how much you depend on your computer for your life. Why is a virus doing what it is doing? Because that satisfies its authors' whims. Simple as that.

They spread like comon cold and flu. From other infected computers, your computer should have contracted some viruses.

Care to get rid of them for ever? Look at PCLinuxOS or Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu. These OSes can work for long without any antiviruses and stay free from viruses.

Answer 4

Viruses are programs replicate themselves in order to infect multiple machines for various reasons. Some are designed to be nuisances and change file names, for example. Others are more malicious and delete or corrupt files. These days, most viruses are created for the purpose of allowing others to remote control your computer and use it to send out spam or get data that will allow access to your banking accounts or allow for identity theft.

The earliest viruses were mostly written by teenagers and college students and designed to do things like display joke messages. Over time they became more malicious. They are spread in a variety of ways, these days primarily by infected email and peer to peer networks - illegal music sharing is the primary vector for malware at present.

You can read more detail at Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus

Answer 5

I don't know where they come from. I have a super anti virus program on my laptop. I know never to open bulk EM's and strange EMs. Why in heavens name anyone would send something to someone with a virus I don't know. It is distasteful, costful and unthinkable.
I don't know how we get them either. I just have been lucky that my computer has detected several before they crashed my system. Someone sent one to my Son's laptop and it ws mucho dineros to get fixed.
The only person who would send something like that is a sick and twisted individual who is doing it for attention. The thing to remember about people like that is that Karma is a B**** and will come back to them 100 times.

Answer 6

Viruses can sometimes be to just do something when you click on something, ie the invitation virus.
Don't click on a email that has in the subject invitation because it deletes your hard disk completely.
Go to norton website and look at the latest viruses, trojans and worms that have cropped up recently.

Answer 7

Hi Kawaii the Trojan Virus Slayer, 1: The spell checker cannot understand, anime as it is a passion, and the spellchecker has no passion. 2: Very Kawaii. 3: I have no fashion sense. 4: Irony, you just got to love it. 5: I would watch out for Ryo-Ohki, and other Cabbits. Bonus Questions. 1: No. 2: Quite good, they would give Dekopin Rocket a good challenge.

Answer 8

Well its upto the virus what it may be created for, for eg some virus just creat the copy of itself and fill ur harddisk with it,
some just delete ur files and bla bla --- ,

and second question who created them and y ?

bit difficlt to knw who actully created them ,

basiclly thy spread via internet ,emails and , downloading etc
wel how u clean your system is upto your antivirus, how eeficient your antiviruss is .
just rember few thing while -:
-never copies any thing to ur Pc without scanning .
-Keep your Antivius updated
- Dont download too much from net.

Answer 9

in short.... without wiki references like some goons...

virus' are unbeneficial files on your pc (often malicious).
people with nothing better to do create them
you get them mostly off irresponsible downloading.


the answer - a GOOD virus scanner

Answer 10

you can get by opening bulk emails when you dont know who they are from, rule of thumb if you dont recognise the emailer dont open it., clicking on links in web sites, downloading from disreputable sites, run regular virus and spy checks.