What Are Trojans and Viruses?

Trojans and viruses are two attacks that can harm a computer's performance, potentially steal personal information or cause general havoc. Most Trojans and viruses are typically meant to annoy and cause frustration, but some are detrimental and often dangerous. Being aware of what Trojans and viruses can damage will help you remember to keep your anti-virus software up to date and ensure that you don't download harmful files.

Viruses

Viruses are actual computer programs that are able to run within the computer. To be considered a virus, the program must run and copy itself. Whether this is at a certain time or because a user mistakenly clicks on the program, the virus program takes over and does what it's supposed to do.

Virus Duties

Viruses are usually meant to accomplish a few tasks. Issues like hard drive reformatting, file deletion and keylogging are just some of the problems that can occur.

Virus Hoaxes

Virus hoaxes come in the form of a fake email enticing you to click on links to protect yourself from the latest virus. The email itself and/or the link contains the virus, which will be unleashed if the email is not taken care of.

Trojans

Trojans disguise themselves as familiar files like MP3s, email attachments sent from friends or templates that allow macro codes to be embedded. As the name implies, Trojans can only begin to wreak havoc if you let them into your computer.

Prevention

Ensure you have an anti-virus installed on you computer and it is updated daily. Don't let your anti-virus subscription run out. Most programs are one-year subscriptions with free updates for that year. After the year is up, the program will still detect viruses, but will not update for the most current definitions, so any new threat may not be detected.

References

• Symantec Virus and Trojan Information