For years I have been advising and informing business men and women that they really “should” keep on top of the virus scene if for no other reason than to save themselves the grief a subsequent virus infection can cause. Those days are way over. You no longer have any choice; you need to make sure if you are going to participate online that you do the simple basics necessary to keep your system and those you communicate with as risk-free as possible from infection.

When you hear about million dollar losses due to the latest virus “attack” know that the only way a virus can “attack” is if a) you let it by not being responsible, or b) you refuse to become informed on this subject and therefore you let the virus in to wreck havoc on your system as well as the systems of those you communicate with. No faster way to look silly and uninformed than to have all your business associates receive multiple virus generated e-mails sending them to a pornography site generated from your e-mail account. (Can we say grovel?)

Those companies that are shutdown and loose time and money need to fire their IT guys or gals immediately. Virus protection is relatively simple with some basic knowledge acquisition and software both on the server/network side and the user side. My concern is with the user side and to stress to clients the importance of this matter. That protecting themselves, their computers, those they communicate with is a responsibility of participation - not a choice.

Also over are the days of having to click on an attachment link for the virus to propagate and for you to get infected. That ended with the virus W32.Nimda.A@mm in September/2001 that merely required you click on the subject of the e-mail in your e-mail program - (specifically targeting Outlook users) you didn’t even have to open the message itself. Nimda also propagated itself by taking advantage of bugs in Microsoft servers to plant itself on the server and then transfer itself to those who visited the Web sites on that server through Internet Explorer.

The days of pretending you have no control and are an innocent victim are way over!! You need to use products that cannot be compromised (Microsoft Servers, Outlook, Internet Explorer) if at all possible but you also need to have 24/7 virus software running on your system and then update your virus patterns daily. Yes, daily! Here are the products I suggest you purchase:

* Norton Antivirus 2006 Norton AntiVirus™ 2006 is the world’s most trusted antivirus solution. It protects e-mail, instant messages, and other files by automatically removing viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. New built-in features also detect certain non-virus threats such as spyware and keystroke loggers. Protect your PC 24 hours a day
* Why have a target on your back using Microsoft Outlook? Use Mozilla Thunderbird to minimize your risk level.

Let me be clear I am not Microsoft bashing here. Networks and servers with experienced IT staff did not get infected by Nimda - they kept abreast of their products and downloaded the latest patches both for their servers and company’s browsers before problems could arise. However, with Outlook - you have a plethora of other choices and there is no reason that I have been told to date to continue to use that product so its bugs can be taken advantage of at your expense. Those who create viruses target the masses - Outlook users - as they know they are the majority, less tech savvy and less prone to take precautions to stop their efforts.

There is no single reason - functionality-wise that Outlook has to be used for e-mail. “I don’t want to learn new software” is about the only reason I have ever been given. Not good enough! If you must use Outlook, you have absolutely, positively no choice other than to purchase the software above. Or suffer the consequences.

Why all the fuss? Well, I personally think viruses up to now have been “fun and games” compared to what they could do or will do in the near future. Nimda is an example of this. As in wipe out hard drives, extrapolate personal data, engage malicious code or plant code on your computer. When that happens, you will experience the very same feeling those who don’t back up their computers do when they have lost all their data in a hard drive crash. If they had only taken those few simple steps to avoid pain and misery . . . as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

Another important concern is those of us who do practice technology safely really get sick and tired of receiving all the e-mails these viruses create from others who don’t bother to take these simple steps. If everyone followed these basic steps, those who write these viruses wouldn’t have it so darned easy! It is a tremendous waste of time and resources that can be avoided. So, if you don’t have software that protects your computer from the moment you boot up as well as real-time e-mail scanning as you download e-mail get it now!

Below for your convenience are the basics of viruses.

1. What is a computer virus?

A computer virus is a program designed to spread itself by first infecting executable files or the system areas of hard and floppy disks and then making copies of itself. Viruses usually operate without the knowledge or desire of the computer user.

2. What kind of files can spread viruses?

Viruses have the potential to infect any type of executable code, not just the files that are commonly called ‘program files’. For example, some viruses infect executable code in the boot sector of floppy disks or in system areas of hard drives. Another type of virus, known as a ‘macro’ virus, can infect word processing and spreadsheet documents that use macros. And it’s possible for HTML documents containing JavaScript or other types of executable code to spread viruses or other malicious code.

Since virus code must be executed to have any effect, files that the computer treats as pure data are safe. This includes graphics and sound files such as .gif, .jpg, .mp3, .wav, etc., as well as plain text in .txt files. For example, just viewing picture files won’t infect your computer with a virus. The virus code has to be in a form, such as an .exe program file or a Word .doc file, that the computer will actually try to execute.

3. How do viruses spread?

When you execute program code that’s infected by a virus, the virus code will also run and try to infect other programs, either on the same computer or on other computers connected to it over a network. And the newly infected programs will try to infect yet more programs.

When you share a copy of an infected file with other computer users, running the file may also infect their computers; and files from those computers may spread the infection to yet more computers.

If your computer is infected with a boot sector virus, the virus tries to write copies of itself to the system areas of floppy disks and hard disks. Then the infected floppy disks may infect other computers that boot from them, and the virus copy on the hard disk will try to infect still more floppies.

Some viruses, known as ‘multipartite’ viruses, can spread both by infecting files and by infecting the boot areas of floppy disks.

4. What do viruses do to computers?

Viruses are software programs, and they can do the same things as any other programs running on a computer. The actual effect of any particular virus depends on how it was programmed by the person who wrote the virus.

Some viruses are deliberately designed to damage files or otherwise interfere with your computer’s operation, while others don’t do anything but try to spread themselves around. But even the ones that just spread themselves are harmful, since they damage files and may cause other problems in the process of spreading.

Note that viruses can’t do any damage to hardware: they won’t melt down your CPU, burn out your hard drive, cause your monitor to explode, etc. Warnings about viruses that will physically destroy your computer are usually hoaxes, not legitimate virus warnings.

5. What is a Trojan horse program?

A type of program that is often confused with viruses is a ‘Trojan horse’ program. This is not a virus, but simply a program (often harmful) that pretends to be something else.

For example, you might download what you think is a new program; but when you run it, it deletes files on your hard drive. Or the third time you start the program, the program e-mails your saved passwords to another person.

Note: simply downloading a file to your computer won’t activate a virus or Trojan horse; you have to execute the code in the file to trigger it. This could mean running a program file, or opening a Word/Excel document in a program (such as Word or Excel) that can execute any macros in the document.

6. What’s the story on viruses and e-mail?

You can’t get a virus just by reading a plain-text e-mail message. What you have to watch out for are encoded messages containing embedded executable code (i.e., JavaScript in an HTML message) or messages that include an executable file attachment (i.e., an encoded program file or a Word document containing macros).

In order to activate a virus or Trojan horse program, your computer has to execute some type of code. This could be a program attached to an e-mail, a Word document you downloaded from the Internet, or something received on a floppy disk. There’s no special hazard in files attached e-mail messages; they’re no more dangerous than any other file.

7. What can I do to reduce the chance of getting viruses from e-mail?

Have real-time 24/7 virus protection and update your virus patterns daily! Treat any file attachments that might contain executable code as carefully as you would any other new files: save the attachment to disk and then check it with an up-to-date virus scanner before opening the file if you do not have real-time protection.

If your e-mail software has the ability to automatically execute JavaScript, Word macros, or other executable code contained in or attached to a message, I strongly recommend that you disable this feature.

If an executable file shows up unexpectedly attached to an e-mail, you should delete it unless you can positively verify what it is, who it came from, and why it was sent to you. The recent outbreak of the Melissa virus was a dramatic demonstration of the need to be extremely careful when you receive e-mail with attached files or documents. Just because an e-mail appears to come from someone you trust, this does NOT mean the file is safe or that the supposed sender had anything to do with it.

Remember what I mentioned above about those who don’t back up their data? Do regular backups. Some viruses and Trojan horse programs will erase or corrupt files on your hard drive, and a recent backup may be the only way to recover your data. Ideally, you should back up your entire system on a regular basis. If this isn’t practical, at least backup files that you can’t afford to lose or that would be difficult to replace: critical business and accounting files, documents, bookmark files, address books, important e-mail, etc. And, yep, you guessed it, I just so happen to have a software suggestion to automate this task for you too! ;-)

There you have it in a nutshell. You can’t ignore this information. It is your responsibility to absorb and apply it or you could risk not only your data, but time, money, as well as potential customers who will not be too pleased about your lack of attention to this subject when you pass your irresponsibility on to them.

Submit: