Well, it’s really a common word ‘virus’ these days, but you potentially don’t know how big of a threat it is. According to a trusted information source, 7 out of every 10 computer owners have a virus already installed in their system, without them knowing about it. Many a time they simply know it but doesn’t know how to get rid of them. So here we will tell you what is a computer virus? Different types of computer viruses, how to get rid of existing viruses in your PC, and how not to get a virus ever again from now on.

What is a Computer Virus?

Computer Virus is a malicious software specifically coded to go to different PCs with different means like piggybacking with an email and perform malicious functions, such as create or delete files etc.

 

Different types of viruses:

Worms:

A worm is a self-replicating program which quickly eats up your entire memory or disk space. A worm keeps on replicating itself until the whole disk is full.

Trojan Horses:

It is a program which appears harmless but actually performs malicious functions such as deleting or damaging files.

Damages Caused By Them:

Damage or delete files:

Most of the viruses may delete or damage random documents or specific files which are essential for your Operating System to run, This damage can range from rendering useless just a few files or affecting the whole computer, sometimes requiring you to reinstall your OS and start from 0.

Slow Down Your Computer:

Viruses can run in the background of the computer, invisible and may cause your computer to run like a turtle instead of a bullet train.

Invade your Email Program:

Some forms of viruses may break/wreak havoc by spreading to the contacts in your email address book.

Spyware

Spyware is somewhat similar to a virus, but instead of damaging or deleting your files, it compromises your very privacy or your crucial data. This data may be sold to those who are willing to pay for this or is maybe monitored by the government for some specific reason, but anyways it still compromises your information. These get installed on your system without your consent, typically by piggybacking onto a file( like when you download a photo from email, the software maybe is attached to the photo and now is in your system without you knowing about it), or gets downloaded from the internet when you visit a website(particularly when you click a link in a website).

Damages caused by them:

Compromises your data:

This is very well self-explanatory. Spyware monitors your behaviour and sells it to those who are willing to pay for it.

Slows down your PC, and sometimes Alter pc settings:

Well it’s obvious that these kinds of malicious software/program slows down your PC or alters the setting automatically  

Adware

These are kind of programs which annoys a person by showing you unwanted ads everywhere on your computer(generally in Pop-Ups form). They not only annoy you a lot but also consumes your network bandwidth. It’s just like spyware but might be installed with your consent, may be installed which you installed a fishy program and didn’t check custom install or maybe didn’t read Terms of Servies(anyways who reads that?). 

PC Intrusion

Every PC connected to the internet has a potential risk of hackers targeting them.  It can occur in any of these forms:

1. Sweeper attack: It deletes all the data from the system
2. Denial of Services: This type of attacks eat up all the resources of a system and the system come to a halt.
3. Password Guessing: Most hackers do a background check, and research on you, gather some information and then guess most likely passcodes to get into your accounts like bank account etc. A good way to be safe from these if to use a lengthy password(8 or more characters) and use mixtures of a special character like(! @,#,$ etc) and numbers.

The solution to these viruses

1. Use antiviruses and anti-spyware software. Frequently do all system scall(once a week) and if anything found, disconnect the system from the network and then restore it from a clean backup or take it to trusted antivirus vendor.
2. Download Windows update regularly. Windows with every update make a better antivirus or firewall software to deal with the latest threats. so Always keep your system up to date
3. Be careful with emails. If you guys are active on social media or youtube, you may know that most of the famous youtube channels are being hacked or being taken over by hackers, and this is all done when a YouTuber clicks a link given by the email sender thinking that it’s a legitimate sponsorship scheme, and then the virus is installed without them knowing about it. 

If you guys loved this blog, please leave a comment saying it helped, because it will make my day!   #virus #anivirus #pc #worms