Java Glossary : virus
Last updated 2004-06-28 by Roedy
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Glossary : V words : virus.
- virus
- A computer program written by a bratty child or a terrorist whose intent is
both vandalism and spreading automatically to other computers.
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Boot track viruses
infect your hard disk when you accidentally boot while an infected floppy is
inserted. My launder utility will kill
any boot virus on a floppy, even ones that have not been written yet. My BootSave
utility will restore your hard disk boot track that has been infected. However,
you must innoculate your disk (make a copy of the intact boot track) by using it
before you get infected.
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Exe Viruses
piggy back on exe files. They arrive most commonly as email attachments or on
floppy. Sometimes even files you download from websites are infected. They cause
no damage until you execute the corresponding file. You can do a directory list
safely. You can insert an infected floppy safely (subject to my earlier warning
about the sneaky boot track viruses). Norton Antivirus or the McAfee Virus Scan
will check all the files on a floppy, all incoming email and all your hard disk
files against a weekly updated list of known viruses. The trouble is the kids
make them up by the thousands and this technique is defenseless against a brand
new virus. Never execute a file that arrives by email, even if it comes from
a friend. These are most often infected.
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ActiveX Viruses
These are the most dangerous of all because you can pick them up just browsing
the Internet. Turn off ActiveX and only turn it on when dealing with a site you
are absolutely sure is trustworthy. Turn off the autodownload feature as well.
The CometCursor virus is the world's first commercial virus that spreads itself
by this technique. It does no harm other than make your cursor look like Nelson
Mandela's head, but it installs itself without your permission. It is very hard
to kill once you are infected.
-
Worms
Worms manage to spread without actually attaching themselves to executable files.
They typically use the swiss cheese security in Microsoft Outlook to spread
themselves by sending email to everyone in the address book. This can cause a
chain reaction than can shut down the mail system, even of those who have solid
virus protection. Well-known people just get swamped by incoming garbage emails.
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Benign Viruses
A virus that just puts up some silly message but does no damage.
-
Trojan
is a virus that just does damage, but makes no special attempt to spread itself.
It may masquerade as a silly game, but will erase everything on your hard disk.
There are no known Java viruses, that piggyback on class or jar files, though in
theory they are possible. The Applet security system makes it impossible for
virus to infect your system via Java Applets you run in your browser. There are
some lesser viruses which can hide inside Microsoft word documents in the form
of autorun macros.
Protecting Yourself
-
Don't open or run any email enclosures except GIF, JPG, PDF, TXT, HTML and JAVA.
EXE, COM, BAT, DOC and OCX are the most dangerous.
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Avoid putting floppies from outside your shop into any of your machines. If you
must, scan them with a virus checker first.
-
Run a nightly virus scan such as Norton Antivirus using freshly updated virus
definitions.
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Don't surf the web with Internet Explorer unless you disable ActiveX first.
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Don't install software unless it comes from a reputable source. Avoid installing
any software you don't absolutely need.
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Make sure your Internet connection goes through a firewall.
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Don't let people use any of your machines who you can't trust to follow these
rules.
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If you become infected, get help quickly from someone who knows what to do. If
you don't know what you are doing, you can easily lose all your data and easily
reinfect yourself. You must disinfect and/or protect yourself from reinfection
from every single floppy, CD burned, backup tape, ZIP drive...
