Computers - Viruses & Antiviruses 

Now a day’s computers are the basic requirement approximately for everyone. As computers gained their prominence in today’s world, their safety and protection from viruses became significant.

VIRUSES were detected first in the very beginning of the 1970s or even in the end of 1960s. They are self-replicating programs which insert themselves into other executable codes, documents or programs termed as infection and the infected file as a host. Viruses are one of the malicious software that destroys data.

The predominant negative effect of viruses is their uncontrolled self-reproduction, which devastates computer resources. Viruses only spread when the host is taken to the uninfected computer and also through network services like the internet. The majority of viruses run on Microsoft windows. If viruses are dark clouds, then anti-viruses are the silver lining of a computer.

The symptoms of a computer being infected with a virus are that it starts running slower, stops responding, restarts frequently by itself and disk drives are inaccessible besides many more. Some of the viruses are Trojan horse, black hat, stormworm etc…

Anti-virus was discovered in 1988. This software is the counter program that tries to identify and eliminate computer viruses. As soon as it detects any threats, the software either deletes the infected file or makes the file inaccessible to other programs so that it does not spread or by removing the virus itself from the file. Anti-viruses should periodically be updated. Some anti-viruses are Symantec Norton, Kaspersky, AVG, BitDefender, McAfee Eset Nod32, etc…

Viruses are also spread through downloads from the Internet. They can be hidden in illicit software or other files or programs you might download. To help avoid viruses, it is essential that you keep your computer current with the latest updates and antivirus tools, stay informed about recent threats, and that you follow a few basic rules when you surf the Internet, download files and open attachments.

Ravi Agarwal

NE Techno Services