Computer Virus Notice; What Is A Virus; What Types Of Viruses Are Known; How Does A Virus Spread And Contaminate - Gateway E-5200 Maintaining And Troubleshooting

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Computer Virus Notice

A virus is a program written with malicious intent for the sole purpose of

creating havoc in a computer system. It attaches itself to executable files or

boot sectors, so it can replicate and spread. Some viruses may only cause

your system to beep or display messages or images on the screen. Other

viruses are highly destructive and corrupt or erase the contents of your files

or diskettes. To be safe, never assume any virus is harmless.

Viruses are identified by how they infect computer systems.

•

Program viruses infect executable program files such as .com,

.exe, .ovl, .drv, .sys, and .bin.

•

Boot viruses attach themselves to a boot record, master boot, FAT,

or partition table.

•

Multipartite viruses are both program and boot infectors.

There are many ways a virus can spread and infect your system. However, a

virus is inactive until the infected program is executed, or a boot record is

read. Thereafter, the virus loads itself into system memory and begins to

copy and spread itself.

Diskettes used in a contaminated system can get infected and, in turn,

transfer the virus when used in another system. A virus can also spread via

programs downloaded from bulletin boards or the Internet. Remember that

viruses cannot appear all by themselves. They have to be written, then

spread through direct contact with executable programs or boot sectors.

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