Information Technology

Sources, Warning and Detection of Viruses

Sources of computer viruses

The mission of computer virus is to hop from one program on a computer to another as quickly as
possible doing much damage to the computers. Some of the sources of computer viruses are:

i. Infected diskettes – a computer is infected with a boot sector virus if it is booted (or started)
from an infected floppy disk or diskette. These diskettes could come from:
(a) Unsolicited demonstration disks
(b) Brand new software
(c) Diskettes used on a computer system by salesmen or engineers
(d) Repaired hardware.
ii. Infected CD-ROMs – this is similar to infected diskettes.
iii. E-mails – viruses may be spread as attachments in e-mail messages and instant messages.
iv. Internet downloads – most viruses come from downloaded information on the internet.
v. Illegal duplication of softwares.

Virus Warning Signs

A. The following are some of the warning signs that can confirm that your computer system is
infected with a computer virus.
 The computer runs slower than usual.
 The computer stops responding or it locks up frequently.
 The appearance of any dots on the monitor.
 The computer crashes and then it restarts every few minutes.
 The computer restarts on its own and does not run as usual.
 Applications on the computer do not work correctly.
 Disks or disk drives are not accessible.
 The appearance of unusual error messages.
 Items and files cannot be printed correctly.
 The appearance of distorted menus and dialog boxes.
 Strange sound or music plays from the speakers unexpectedly.
 Disappearance of program from the computer even though it was not removed.
 Appearance of new icons on the desktop which are not associated with any recently
installed program.
 Incomplete saving of file.
 Corruption of the system set-up instructions.
 An anti-virus program is disabled for no reason and cannot be restarted.
  An anti-virus program cannot be installed on the computer or the antivirus program
installed does not run.
B. For e-mail messages, the following warning signs will show that the e-mail messages or other
files are infected with virus.
 The infected file may make copies of itself. This may use up all the free space on the hard
disk.
 A copy of a file (the infected file) may be sent to all the addresses in your e-mail address list
without you initiating it.
 The computer virus may reformat the hard disk. This will delete files and programs.
 The computer virus may install hidden programs like pirated software which may be
distributed and sold from the computer.
 When e-mail messages that you receive has a strange attachment with extensions such as
.exe, .bat, .scr, vbs.

Virus detection (Antivirus) and Removal

A. The moment you detect or see any of the warning signs that your computer system is infected
with virus, it is important to do the following:
i. Install the latest updates for Microsoft Update on the computer.
ii. Install the latest anti-virus software on the computer and perform a thorough scan of
the computer.
iii. Download, install and run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool to remove
existing viruses on the computer.
B. To protect your computer against viruses, do the following:
i. On the computer, turn on the firewall.
ii. Keep the computer operating system up-to-date.
iii. Use updated antivirus software on your computer.
C. Some of the antivirus software packages that can be used to remove viruses in your computer
system are:
 Symantec Norton Antivirus
 MCAfee Virus Scan
 Dr Solomon’s Tool Kit
 Penicillin Antivirus
 IBM Antivirus
 ESaSS Thunder Byte
 EliaShin Virusafe
 DataFellws F-Port