1. Its existence
A virus is a computer program designed to inflict some damage on computers. Virus, like its name, shares some elements that its counterpart in the flesh and blood world possesses, namely the ability to multiply and infect another computer. Any removable media such as floppy disk and flash disk without any protection or encryption can be easily manipulated by a virus to spread to another computer. Optical discs, such as CDs or DVDs, not as the general assumption, can easily become one of the media. Why? Because unlike in the old days when CDs were produced by large corporations that had clean systems to produce this type of media, today CDs and DVDs can be produced in any house in the world with very little virus protection.
The chance of a virus even spreading its wings is by occupying a server system to which tens of thousands of computers are connected. The Internet is a true ‘market’ for this type of threat to spread as easily as toxic gas spreads through the air.
Other threats that lurk in the world of the unknown are worms and Trojans. While worm refers to a program that can find its own way to the target computer, even if it is not transferred intentionally, Trojan horse is a program that appears or promotes itself unscathed but actually has the ability to cause some damage. Some Trojans even present themselves as viruses or worm killers, but are actually the culprits themselves.
2. Its destructive capacity
Ok, now you know the enemies, ‘What’s the fuss, boss?’ you might ask Well, the effects of these beasts can range from harmlessly displaying messages on your desktop to destroying your entire system (your application and operating system). Most of the time, a virus can cause your computer or network to run slowly because its background activity consumes a lot of CPU resources. Another type of virus multiplies in every folder on your PC, thus taking up an insignificant amount of hard drive space. It doesn’t stop there because the multiplication process requires CPU resources. So it’s really annoying when you’re in the middle of a task that really needs CPU power. Worse yet, another type of virus prevents you from booting at all. Even if you manage to start Windows, the virus will detect any attempt you make to remove it. So for example you are triggering an antivirus scanner command or executing ‘Run’ command to use ‘msconfig’ panel (Ms configuration utilities) to disable some startup programs, then the virus will initialize itself to reboot the computer by itself. Very, very annoying, huh? Well, irritating more precisely.
3. Our effort in building a defense
We can advise you to turn on your Windows firewall feature to prevent unwanted application and internet processes from accessing your system. Or maybe you want to try system virtualization where you have a cloned (virtual) system running on your original copy so that when a virus-related disaster strikes, your original system is safe. But most of the time, these are not entirely effective.
We’ll also tell you a simple argument: Even if you know everything about the computer, and may even seem to know all the patterns of new viruses, worms, and Trojans, the effort to fight off virus attacks is a night and day struggle. Although, unfortunately, you need something to replace your place there so you can do something else more important, your hobby and your job (well, except if your job is at an antivirus agency). So the only solution is to build something that can be automated in building the defense and can be updated every time a new threat appears. Yes, it is a program that we all call antivirus. There are so many antivirus programs available, from free software to trial software (which means you can try it for a period of time until the license expires, usually the period is 30 days). But before you complain any more, there are plenty of free antivirus programs out there that are quite powerful. Here are six of our recommendations:
1. AVG Free Edition
2. Avira AntiVir
3.Avast! home edition
4.ClamWin
5. Comfortable Antivirus
6. Antivirus tools for PC
