Free Virus Software
Published by: SoftDistrict, in SoftDistrict Series
January29th2010
A computer virus is in fact a computer software applications that has the ability to copy itself, create its own clones and infect the computer. Some people believe that all 'malware' is called computer virus and associate this name with other kinds of 'malware' that can't actually reproduce themselves. This self-reproduction and spreading of the virus is this software's basic feature. But the virus software is only a type of malicious software. It was called like that, as you can imagine, because it acts exactly like a medical virus - spreads from one computer to another and infects them if you do not take the basic precautions. The first step taken is, like in all diseases, isolation - that is necessary in order not to infect other computers, too.
The first computer virus appeared as an experiment in the early seventies and used the Arpanet, a kind of ancestor of the present Internet, in order to have access to a remote computer and infect it. It was called Creeper, because it copied itself on the infected computer and showed the following message on the computer screen: "I'm the creeper. Catch me if you can!". The researchers had to invent another software that was able to remove the Creeper. This one was called The Reaper and was the first anti-virus software. Pretty funny guys those computer scientists. Well their purpose was a scientific one because they wanted to know what they have to do if something like this happens. They wanted to be prepared for anything.
And they were right. I don't know if the person who made the first virus outside a computer science lab borrowed this idea from them , but he surely meant it as a joke or a practical joke. It was the "Rother J" and appeared in 1981 . the program attached itself to the DOS operating system and was spread using the boot floppy disk. Actually this was the way in which computer viruses spread for a long time before the internet began being used on a large scale. But once this happened it offered a huge opportunity for computer viruses to be spread in different parts of the world in the blink of an eye.
In the early age of computer use the computer virus software was made only for fun, for making practical jokes or to show that you can, They were designed mainly by young computer enthusiasts who loved working on computers and just wanted to prove they are really good. But, in time, the people who did these computer virus software became professionals and also the main purpose changed: it wasn't innocent practical jokes any more, but malicious software who meant to do some damage on the infected computer.
Usually computer viruses attach themselves to some files or software that is necessary for your computer and it will be activated if you run that particular infected software or download the attachment of an email. After being activated it makes a replica of itself and infects another file on your computer. If it is sent via email the virus will be activated when you downlod the attachment. That is why my strong advice is never to open any attachment from people you don't know and never download any kind of software you find on the internet.Much of the free software offered is infected, so be careful what you download. The virus is programmed to do something and its target varies according to the person who wrote the software: it may simply display a crazy message on the screen or even delete all the data on your hard drive.
You may not even know that your computer is infected with a computer virus, as it may be sleeping there until something activates it or may be waiting for a certain number of activations to complete its task. In any case, there are some obvious signs that your computer is infected with a virus if: it restarts by itself out of the blue, shuts down without a command, starts acting chaotically, remains without space on the hard drive, starts running strange music in the speakers , displays odd messages on the screen, starts displaying icons of programs you don't have and some more. When you suspect that something is wrong with your computer, even without many of these signs, start a complete scan with your anti-virus software and see what it's all about.
Virus software is dangerous and forbidden by the law, as it can cause serious prejudices both to individuals and companies. Let's take for example the case of two famous viruses:Melissa virus spread in the word document sent by email. It only needed one person to open that word document and after that the virus was activated, multiplied and sent its copies to all the email addresses in the address book. And so on until it infected millions of email users accounts and forced some large companies to close their email systems until they succeeded to isolate and remove the virus.
It is dangerous because if one computer sends instant emails to at least two hundred email addresses and each of the other infected addresses send other infected email messages, you can imagine that the servers can't face such an invasion and crush down.
Another famous virus software was "I love you" that was spread on May 4th 2000 and it was actually very simple. The virus was added to the attachment of the email and if you were unlucky enough to open the attachment you were immediately infected with the virus. This time the damage was even bigger as millions of people lost precious data on the hard drive and it can be hard to replace.
That is why it is always recommended to back up all your valuable files "just in case", NEVER stay without an anti-virus software active on your computer, especially if you are connected to the internet, make sure you download software and other files only from secure sources, delete without opening any suspicious email you receive.
I know there are some people (kids especially) sitting in front of the computer and looking for free virus software because they want to see what happens , how it works or how many computers they can infect. I advise them to be careful, as they can download some dangerous stuff on their computers and be victims of their own curiosity. Besides, only people who are really good in computer science can do this kind of software and they can't share it with anybody, as they will be punished by the law.
The first computer virus appeared as an experiment in the early seventies and used the Arpanet, a kind of ancestor of the present Internet, in order to have access to a remote computer and infect it. It was called Creeper, because it copied itself on the infected computer and showed the following message on the computer screen: "I'm the creeper. Catch me if you can!". The researchers had to invent another software that was able to remove the Creeper. This one was called The Reaper and was the first anti-virus software. Pretty funny guys those computer scientists. Well their purpose was a scientific one because they wanted to know what they have to do if something like this happens. They wanted to be prepared for anything.
And they were right. I don't know if the person who made the first virus outside a computer science lab borrowed this idea from them , but he surely meant it as a joke or a practical joke. It was the "Rother J" and appeared in 1981 . the program attached itself to the DOS operating system and was spread using the boot floppy disk. Actually this was the way in which computer viruses spread for a long time before the internet began being used on a large scale. But once this happened it offered a huge opportunity for computer viruses to be spread in different parts of the world in the blink of an eye.
In the early age of computer use the computer virus software was made only for fun, for making practical jokes or to show that you can, They were designed mainly by young computer enthusiasts who loved working on computers and just wanted to prove they are really good. But, in time, the people who did these computer virus software became professionals and also the main purpose changed: it wasn't innocent practical jokes any more, but malicious software who meant to do some damage on the infected computer.
Usually computer viruses attach themselves to some files or software that is necessary for your computer and it will be activated if you run that particular infected software or download the attachment of an email. After being activated it makes a replica of itself and infects another file on your computer. If it is sent via email the virus will be activated when you downlod the attachment. That is why my strong advice is never to open any attachment from people you don't know and never download any kind of software you find on the internet.Much of the free software offered is infected, so be careful what you download. The virus is programmed to do something and its target varies according to the person who wrote the software: it may simply display a crazy message on the screen or even delete all the data on your hard drive.
You may not even know that your computer is infected with a computer virus, as it may be sleeping there until something activates it or may be waiting for a certain number of activations to complete its task. In any case, there are some obvious signs that your computer is infected with a virus if: it restarts by itself out of the blue, shuts down without a command, starts acting chaotically, remains without space on the hard drive, starts running strange music in the speakers , displays odd messages on the screen, starts displaying icons of programs you don't have and some more. When you suspect that something is wrong with your computer, even without many of these signs, start a complete scan with your anti-virus software and see what it's all about.
Virus software is dangerous and forbidden by the law, as it can cause serious prejudices both to individuals and companies. Let's take for example the case of two famous viruses:Melissa virus spread in the word document sent by email. It only needed one person to open that word document and after that the virus was activated, multiplied and sent its copies to all the email addresses in the address book. And so on until it infected millions of email users accounts and forced some large companies to close their email systems until they succeeded to isolate and remove the virus.
It is dangerous because if one computer sends instant emails to at least two hundred email addresses and each of the other infected addresses send other infected email messages, you can imagine that the servers can't face such an invasion and crush down.
Another famous virus software was "I love you" that was spread on May 4th 2000 and it was actually very simple. The virus was added to the attachment of the email and if you were unlucky enough to open the attachment you were immediately infected with the virus. This time the damage was even bigger as millions of people lost precious data on the hard drive and it can be hard to replace.
That is why it is always recommended to back up all your valuable files "just in case", NEVER stay without an anti-virus software active on your computer, especially if you are connected to the internet, make sure you download software and other files only from secure sources, delete without opening any suspicious email you receive.
I know there are some people (kids especially) sitting in front of the computer and looking for free virus software because they want to see what happens , how it works or how many computers they can infect. I advise them to be careful, as they can download some dangerous stuff on their computers and be victims of their own curiosity. Besides, only people who are really good in computer science can do this kind of software and they can't share it with anybody, as they will be punished by the law.
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