Anti-virus Information
It is becoming very common for people to get a virus on their computer from an email.
What is a computer virus?
A virus is a small program which has been written with the intention
of causing damage to systems and disruption to computer users all around
the world. Some viruses are pretty harmless, others can be very destructive
and will destroy your data.
How your computer gets infected
Viruses can be written into almost any type of file and usually enter
your system through files added to your computer by floppy disks or
Zip disks, or from downloading files from the Internet. You can also
get a virus through an e-mail attachment, or in some instances, viruses
can be hidden in the email itself, rather than in an attachment.
Usually the virus is activated by simply opening an infected file. However, more recent worms have taken advantage of security holes in some of Microsoft’s software and can be activated simply by reading an email. They will then automatically send themselves to everyone in your computer's address book.
How do you know you have a computer virus?
Some common symptoms that could indicate your system's been infected
are:
- Unusual messages or displays on your monitor
- Unusual sounds or music played at random times
- Your system has less available memory than it should
- A disk or volume name has been changed
- Programs or files are suddenly missing
- Unknown programs or files have been created
- Some of your files become corrupted or suddenly don't work properly