Facts about Viruses

**Malice** · 11-04-2005, 07:56 PM

I thought I would throw some information I have learned thru long and hard experience as a Security Administrator for a large company.

Note information here

Viruses
In computer security technology, a virus is a self-replicating program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents. Thus, a computer virus behaves in a way similar to a biological virus, which spreads by inserting itself into living cells. Extending the analogy, the insertion of the virus into a program is termed infection, and the infected file (or executable code that is not part of a file) is called a host.

Now that you have heard a technical definition, I will explain what this means.
A virus simply is a small program that when executed, follows its own programming to replicate itself over and over in some fashion.

There are many different types of viruses exist. I will really only describe two.
The Worm and the Resident Virus since those tend to be the most prevalent in the wild of the Internet.

The Worm
The worm is a virus that is network aware. This means when a worm infects a computer it then engrains itself in the Operating System and then starts looking for other computers on a network to infect. Most worms actually dont cause many problems on the actualy computer, but they create nightmares for the actual Network that the computer sits on. This computer, starts sending THOUSANDS of requests from the infected computer looking for other computers to infect. This causes the network to become completely bogged down. Imagine a network of thousands of computers on it, all infected. This would basicaly take and any network and for the most part, cease it from functioning.

The Resident Virus
This virus usually is not network aware like the worm. When the resident virus infects a file, it integrates itself in the file waiting to be run. When then you run the file, in the background, the virus simply executes its payload. It infect other files and then runs in the background without your knowledge. It can then infect every file you run, thus spreading itself thru your actions.

How do I protect myself from viruses?
First, you MUST have an antivirus program. There are MANY out there you can purchase and there are a number that you can download for free.
I would reccommend one of the following:

AntiVirus Software you can Purchase

AntiVirus Software you can Download for Free

No matter what, download and install an Antivirus product. Protect yourself and protect others by having one.

Second, make sure you consistantly update your antivirus programs definitions Definitions are additions to your program that help identify existing viruses and possibly help block ones that have yet to be identified. Most programs can be setup to downoad its updates automatically. But I reccommend running it by hand at least once a week to make sure you know its getting updated.

Third, do not open any email in which you do not know who its from. Simply delete it. Most viruse epidemics are started by people who are unaware and simply open programs, attachments to emails and emails they know nothing about. On your home computer, question everything everyone sends you.

Fourth, if you suspect you do have a virus I would suggest do the folowing.
1) Update your AntiVirus software immediately.
2) Scan your complete computer with your AntiVirus program you have installed.
3) Then go to Trend Micro's HouseCall website and have their free online scanner scan your pc as well.

This will then help your figure out if you have been infected.

Freelow · 11-06-2005, 12:44 PM

And a few basics to make life easier.

Don't open attachments that you were not expecting or have a funny feeling about. If in doubt, contact the person who sent you the attachment.

Don't be that person who forwards on emails with attachments to others. I have a customer who is that person and includes me when he sends them out. He doesn't just send it to me, he sends it to 20 people at one shot.

The easy way to get off that list, tell that person that your work IT person has been monitoring emails lately and has warned you about receiving personal emails. Then state that you do not wish to lose your job over a personal email. I did this a month ago and I have not received 1 junk email from him since. It is respectful and a very plausible lie.

Use a firewall. There are many out there that are free and work well. I use Zone Alarm at home and at work.

Oh, Trend Micro works very well. I use it as my anti-virus and scan about once a week or every two weeks. No problems yet.

11-06-2005, 06:24 PM

Viruses can only be carried in file types that have some sort of executable code so if it's something like an mp3 or jpg then it will be fine.
Normal plain text emails cannot hold viruses unless they have an attachment or include HTML.
If the program which includes the virus is not run then you will be fine. This goes the same with a trojan. Just simply delete it. Everytime you download or recieve a file with executable code, always scan it before you open it.

I read somewhere that worms and viruses are two totally different things but they were similar?

11-06-2005, 06:45 PM

Oh and don't JUST have a firewall or JUST an anti-virus. You need both. Say if you only had a firewall, and you downloaded a program and it was a trojan. You ran it and some stupid error message came up. Then, you just left it. later on your computer starts running slow and then dies. It wouldn't be picked up by the anti-virus because you wouldn't have one. The reason why is because the firewall only blocks remote administration tools, which is what the hacker uses to "administrate" your computer. This cannot be used when you download/run a program that is "trusted" that you THINK is ok but really isn't.

And if you only had an anti-virus, you wouldn't have anything protecting the different ways into your computer, therefore, you would get hacked anyway. That is a good idea to have both.

If you run a program and you suspect it to be a trojan or something, IMMEDIATELY DISCONNECT your computer from the internet and run a virus scan. If you don't, someone can get into your computer and cause all kinds of harm. Also, if your computer is running slow and you think someone is in your computer just disconnect your modem. I know all of this seems pretty obvious but you dunno how many people I have to tell this to.

eclipsedman · 11-10-2005, 10:19 PM

Man I just recieved an email from my mother and she works for Oracle. I sent her a video file and I recieved a warning about sending them too her and a warning to scan for viruses. So today I purchased Norton Anti Virus and I come to find out there are literally over 1000 different things to remove, mostly from a p2p program that was being run by a Trojan horse that was being used to dl other programs unbeknownst to me. Unbelievable, I cant even believe there are that many files on my comp I didn't even know of.

By the way thanks for the above info, next step is the fire wall.

insaneMoViEgoer · 11-11-2005, 01:22 AM

you should get something from Panda. i downloaded a trial version of their platinum edition and it works very well. and definately worth the money if you have it.

FilmJerk · 11-13-2005, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malice

AntiVirus Software you can Download for Free

are these good ones?

**Malice** · 11-14-2005, 05:00 PM

I have no problems with AG free...
Clan is opensource....used it once, but never installed it on a machine that actually had a virus.

FilmJerk · 11-14-2005, 10:26 PM

wow, installed AVG and it detected like 15 viruses

Ewok Droppings · 11-18-2005, 04:01 PM

AVG is pretty good and so is a program called AntiVir which is also free.

Norton and McAfee are pretty much crap now due to their often lack of detection abilities and removal procedures. Don't get me wrong, they are still decent, but for the amount of resources they take and compared to some of the other free solutions on the market, they just simply aren't worth it.

11-19-2005, 06:29 PM

Norton is not crap at all. Sure, it takes up a lot of resources but it is definately better than AVG and more user-friendly. I used to have AVG and I used to think the same way. I had read AVG was better than norton so stupidly, I stopped scanning with norton and started using AVG. AVG never picked anything up so I thought my computer was safe. It was starting to run awefully slow and drop out all the time so I ran a scan with AVG, nothing. THEN I ran a scan with norton and WHAMMO! There were like 30 viruses on my computer. McAfee is just crap. I used it on hotmail once ages ago to scan an exe file I recieved and it said it was ok. As soon as I tried to download it norton popped up saying it was a virus. Thank goodness for norton!

Team norton internet security up with spybot S&D (havn't tried other spyware removers but I'm sure they work aswell) and it's unstoppable!

All hail Symantec!

Ewok Droppings · 11-19-2005, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cool_chik

Norton is not crap at all. Sure, it takes up a lot of resources but it is definately better than AVG and more user-friendly. I used to have AVG and I used to think the same way. I had read AVG was better than norton so stupidly, I stopped scanning with norton and started using AVG. AVG never picked anything up so I thought my computer was safe. It was starting to run awefully slow and drop out all the time so I ran a scan with AVG, nothing. THEN I ran a scan with norton and WHAMMO! There were like 30 viruses on my computer. McAfee is just crap. I used it on hotmail once ages ago to scan an exe file I recieved and it said it was ok. As soon as I tried to download it norton popped up saying it was a virus. Thank goodness for norton!

Team norton internet security up with spybot S&D (havn't tried other spyware removers but I'm sure they work aswell) and it's unstoppable!

All hail Symantec!

LOL - it's funny because I usually find almost exactly the opposite results. What you will notice though is that all scanners find some things the others don't and vice-versa. If you don't believe me that Norton and McAfee are crappy resource hogs here's an article about what I keep saying:
http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/software/...9172958,00.htm

For effective protection that will block out every single known virus you would honestly need to have every scanner installed since they all find a lot of the same with each having some unique definitions within their respective databases.

11-29-2005, 12:41 AM

Yeah sure, they do use up a lot of resources but hey, they work perfectly! (well norton does anyway...) So who cares about people like me with crap computers. It's better than nothing, and better than AVG. I dunno where people get this crap but it's coming from somewhere... Norton is better than AVG. If AVG was better than Norton don't you think we would be paying for AVG and not Norton? Think about it... If the company Grisoft thought they would make a lot of money from AVG, then they would sell it. But instead, it's free because there are other and better alternatives which people pay for. I think you can buy it, but most people just use the trial version or whaetever. Most people buy Norton. Norton is everywhere. When you open up the processes at school, you don't see AVG anywhere, you see ccApp.exe, which is Norton. The school computers never get viruses. I bet if they had AVG, they would be very sorry.

Sculder · 11-29-2005, 07:26 AM

Norton is the path to the dark side

zamphir66 · 12-07-2005, 07:54 PM

Fact: Jesus is not a virus.

Freelow · 12-08-2005, 10:52 AM

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5985950.html

The next attack is hard-coded in the version of Sober that hit the Net on Nov. 22, iDefense, part of VeriSign, said in a statement Wednesday. Infected machines are set to download instructions and potentially mail out a new wave of Sober e-mails on Jan. 5, the security company said.

Go to the page for the full article. I can't wait to get more of the CIA and FBI emails telling me that I have been on illegal websites again. Yeah.

Ewok Droppings · 12-08-2005, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freelow

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5985950.html

The next attack is hard-coded in the version of Sober that hit the Net on Nov. 22, iDefense, part of VeriSign, said in a statement Wednesday. Infected machines are set to download instructions and potentially mail out a new wave of Sober e-mails on Jan. 5, the security company said.

Go to the page for the full article. I can't wait to get more of the CIA and FBI emails telling me that I have been on illegal websites again. Yeah.

If you happen to get some of those, can I give you an email address to forward it to me for testing? The last ones were great, but we are really trying to catch one of these through the servers for testing.

12-18-2005, 10:04 PM

What is the worm that is currently spreading around MSN messenger called? The one that comes up "I have a cool block checker go to www.block-checker.com"

I need to know so could someone please tell me. I can't be bothered googling it.

Ewok Droppings · 12-19-2005, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cool_chik

What is the worm that is currently spreading around MSN messenger called? The one that comes up "I have a cool block checker go to www.block-checker.com"

I need to know so could someone please tell me. I can't be bothered googling it.

Is there any way you could forward the email to me? I would like to download the file if possible. I believe this is part of the Adclicker (or some call it blockcheck) adware/trojan depending on which company you ask. Essentially it will install a backdoor program that will bombard your computer with adware and crappy files.

Just drop me a PM if you can send me the link and I'll send you an email address to send it to. Thanks.

P.S. if you want to know a little more about the adclicker trojan/adware here are some links:
http://vil.mcafeesecurity.com/vil/content/v_135579.htm
http://secunia.com/virus_information.../adclicker-az/

12-19-2005, 04:50 PM

No I'm not talking about that and I can find the removal tool very easily myself. I don't have the worm myself because I am not that stupid to click the link and download the file. I just need the name of the worm because a lot of people have it and they're asking for help from me and I dunno the name of it so I cannot help them. I don't think it really does anything to your computer but displaying an annoying message to people on MSN. To get the worm yourself, just go to www.block-checker.com and download the .exe file that comes with it and open it. Then you have it.

Also, a trojan and adware are two different things

Ewok Droppings · 12-19-2005, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cool_chik

Also, a trojan and adware are two different things

Thanks - I wasn't aware of that.

I stated that because some sites consider it a trojan and some just consider it adware. I gave you the name of it - but if you really want to know, the naming of viruses is pretty subjective so it depends on what scanner/site you look at when you look for the name.

12-21-2005, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ewok Droppings

Thanks - I wasn't aware of that.

I stated that because some sites consider it a trojan and some just consider it adware. I gave you the name of it - but if you really want to know, the naming of viruses is pretty subjective so it depends on what scanner/site you look at when you look for the name.

Yeah but this is a worm that I am talking about. A totally different thing...

Oh well I will just google it because I need the exact type and crap of it to find the removal tool. Thanks for your help.

Tony Montana · 03-31-2006, 01:38 PM

Im using Kaspersky and its great.

goaheadask · 04-24-2006, 08:13 PM

Anyone having a problem with Limewire? I downloaded limewire4.10 and it kept saying something about a firewall.

André · 04-25-2006, 05:01 AM

I'm using it and no problems with it. I'm behind a firewall too.

If you are running the Windows firewall you might run into problems.

11-04-2005, 07:56 PM	#1
Malice Bringer of Newer Versions! Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 3,397	Facts about Viruses I thought I would throw some information I have learned thru long and hard experience as a Security Administrator for a large company. Note information here Viruses In computer security technology, a virus is a self-replicating program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents. Thus, a computer virus behaves in a way similar to a biological virus, which spreads by inserting itself into living cells. Extending the analogy, the insertion of the virus into a program is termed infection, and the infected file (or executable code that is not part of a file) is called a host. Now that you have heard a technical definition, I will explain what this means. A virus simply is a small program that when executed, follows its own programming to replicate itself over and over in some fashion. There are many different types of viruses exist. I will really only describe two. The Worm and the Resident Virus since those tend to be the most prevalent in the wild of the Internet. The Worm The worm is a virus that is network aware. This means when a worm infects a computer it then engrains itself in the Operating System and then starts looking for other computers on a network to infect. Most worms actually dont cause many problems on the actualy computer, but they create nightmares for the actual Network that the computer sits on. This computer, starts sending THOUSANDS of requests from the infected computer looking for other computers to infect. This causes the network to become completely bogged down. Imagine a network of thousands of computers on it, all infected. This would basicaly take and any network and for the most part, cease it from functioning. The Resident Virus This virus usually is not network aware like the worm. When the resident virus infects a file, it integrates itself in the file waiting to be run. When then you run the file, in the background, the virus simply executes its payload. It infect other files and then runs in the background without your knowledge. It can then infect every file you run, thus spreading itself thru your actions. How do I protect myself from viruses? First, you MUST have an antivirus program. There are MANY out there you can purchase and there are a number that you can download for free. I would reccommend one of the following: AntiVirus Software you can Purchase ETrust EZ Antivirus Symantec's Norton Antivirus TrendMicro Antivirus Kapersky Anti-Virus Mcafee Antivirus AntiVirus Software you can Download for Free Grisoft Free Antivirus Clam Antivirus No matter what, download and install an Antivirus product. Protect yourself and protect others by having one. Second, make sure you consistantly update your antivirus programs definitions Definitions are additions to your program that help identify existing viruses and possibly help block ones that have yet to be identified. Most programs can be setup to downoad its updates automatically. But I reccommend running it by hand at least once a week to make sure you know its getting updated. Third, do not open any email in which you do not know who its from. Simply delete it. Most viruse epidemics are started by people who are unaware and simply open programs, attachments to emails and emails they know nothing about. On your home computer, question everything everyone sends you. Fourth, if you suspect you do have a virus I would suggest do the folowing. 1) Update your AntiVirus software immediately. 2) Scan your complete computer with your AntiVirus program you have installed. 3) Then go to Trend Micro's HouseCall website and have their free online scanner scan your pc as well. This will then help your figure out if you have been infected. __________________ I dont have a very interesting Signature...

11-06-2005, 12:44 PM	#2
Freelow Finally a 1000 posts old Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Deep End of the Sandbox Posts: 1,559	And a few basics to make life easier. Don't open attachments that you were not expecting or have a funny feeling about. If in doubt, contact the person who sent you the attachment. Don't be that person who forwards on emails with attachments to others. I have a customer who is that person and includes me when he sends them out. He doesn't just send it to me, he sends it to 20 people at one shot. The easy way to get off that list, tell that person that your work IT person has been monitoring emails lately and has warned you about receiving personal emails. Then state that you do not wish to lose your job over a personal email. I did this a month ago and I have not received 1 junk email from him since. It is respectful and a very plausible lie. Use a firewall. There are many out there that are free and work well. I use Zone Alarm at home and at work. Oh, Trend Micro works very well. I use it as my anti-virus and scan about once a week or every two weeks. No problems yet. __________________ Me fail English? That's unpossible.

11-10-2005, 10:19 PM	#5
eclipsedman Dazed and Confused Join Date: May 2003 Location: Portland OR Posts: 2,322	Man I just recieved an email from my mother and she works for Oracle. I sent her a video file and I recieved a warning about sending them too her and a warning to scan for viruses. So today I purchased Norton Anti Virus and I come to find out there are literally over 1000 different things to remove, mostly from a p2p program that was being run by a Trojan horse that was being used to dl other programs unbeknownst to me. Unbelievable, I cant even believe there are that many files on my comp I didn't even know of. By the way thanks for the above info, next step is the fire wall. __________________ " Reality is an illusion caused by a lack of alcohol".

11-14-2005, 05:00 PM	#8
Malice Bringer of Newer Versions! Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 3,397	I have no problems with AG free... Clan is opensource....used it once, but never installed it on a machine that actually had a virus. __________________ I dont have a very interesting Signature...

11-14-2005, 10:26 PM	#9
FilmJerk How bout a magic trick? Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: In your mind Posts: 5,949	wow, installed AVG and it detected like 15 viruses __________________ Top 5 All Time 1. The Dark Knight 2. Heat 3. Training Day 4. Collateral 5. The Departed

11-06-2005, 06:24 PM	#3
cool_chik Guest Posts: n/a	Viruses can only be carried in file types that have some sort of executable code so if it's something like an mp3 or jpg then it will be fine. Normal plain text emails cannot hold viruses unless they have an attachment or include HTML. If the program which includes the virus is not run then you will be fine. This goes the same with a trojan. Just simply delete it. Everytime you download or recieve a file with executable code, always scan it before you open it. I read somewhere that worms and viruses are two totally different things but they were similar?

11-06-2005, 06:45 PM	#4
cool_chik Guest Posts: n/a	Oh and don't JUST have a firewall or JUST an anti-virus. You need both. Say if you only had a firewall, and you downloaded a program and it was a trojan. You ran it and some stupid error message came up. Then, you just left it. later on your computer starts running slow and then dies. It wouldn't be picked up by the anti-virus because you wouldn't have one. The reason why is because the firewall only blocks remote administration tools, which is what the hacker uses to "administrate" your computer. This cannot be used when you download/run a program that is "trusted" that you THINK is ok but really isn't. And if you only had an anti-virus, you wouldn't have anything protecting the different ways into your computer, therefore, you would get hacked anyway. That is a good idea to have both. If you run a program and you suspect it to be a trojan or something, IMMEDIATELY DISCONNECT your computer from the internet and run a virus scan. If you don't, someone can get into your computer and cause all kinds of harm. Also, if your computer is running slow and you think someone is in your computer just disconnect your modem. I know all of this seems pretty obvious but you dunno how many people I have to tell this to.

11-11-2005, 01:22 AM	#6
insaneMoViEgoer Still alive Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Somewhere.... Posts: 6,673	you should get something from Panda. i downloaded a trial version of their platinum edition and it works very well. and definately worth the money if you have it.

11-18-2005, 04:01 PM	#10
Ewok Droppings Executive Producer Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Endor Forest Floor Posts: 14,443	AVG is pretty good and so is a program called AntiVir which is also free. Norton and McAfee are pretty much crap now due to their often lack of detection abilities and removal procedures. Don't get me wrong, they are still decent, but for the amount of resources they take and compared to some of the other free solutions on the market, they just simply aren't worth it.

11-19-2005, 06:29 PM	#11
cool_chik Guest Posts: n/a	Norton is not crap at all. Sure, it takes up a lot of resources but it is definately better than AVG and more user-friendly. I used to have AVG and I used to think the same way. I had read AVG was better than norton so stupidly, I stopped scanning with norton and started using AVG. AVG never picked anything up so I thought my computer was safe. It was starting to run awefully slow and drop out all the time so I ran a scan with AVG, nothing. THEN I ran a scan with norton and WHAMMO! There were like 30 viruses on my computer. McAfee is just crap. I used it on hotmail once ages ago to scan an exe file I recieved and it said it was ok. As soon as I tried to download it norton popped up saying it was a virus. Thank goodness for norton! Team norton internet security up with spybot S&D (havn't tried other spyware removers but I'm sure they work aswell) and it's unstoppable! All hail Symantec!

11-29-2005, 12:41 AM	#13
cool_chik Guest Posts: n/a	Yeah sure, they do use up a lot of resources but hey, they work perfectly! (well norton does anyway...) So who cares about people like me with crap computers. It's better than nothing, and better than AVG. I dunno where people get this crap but it's coming from somewhere... Norton is better than AVG. If AVG was better than Norton don't you think we would be paying for AVG and not Norton? Think about it... If the company Grisoft thought they would make a lot of money from AVG, then they would sell it. But instead, it's free because there are other and better alternatives which people pay for. I think you can buy it, but most people just use the trial version or whaetever. Most people buy Norton. Norton is everywhere. When you open up the processes at school, you don't see AVG anywhere, you see ccApp.exe, which is Norton. The school computers never get viruses. I bet if they had AVG, they would be very sorry.

11-29-2005, 07:26 AM	#14
Sculder Goldmember Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Europe ™ Posts: 20,340	Norton is the path to the dark side __________________ Back then we didn't have these fancy birth control methods. Like pulling out. My DVD / Bluray Collection sculder.filmaf.com/owned

12-07-2005, 07:54 PM	#15
zamphir66 Captain Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Where no one has gone before Posts: 2,285	Fact: Jesus is not a virus.

12-08-2005, 10:52 AM	#16
Freelow Finally a 1000 posts old Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Deep End of the Sandbox Posts: 1,559	New Sober Worm for January 2006 http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5985950.html The next attack is hard-coded in the version of Sober that hit the Net on Nov. 22, iDefense, part of VeriSign, said in a statement Wednesday. Infected machines are set to download instructions and potentially mail out a new wave of Sober e-mails on Jan. 5, the security company said. Go to the page for the full article. I can't wait to get more of the CIA and FBI emails telling me that I have been on illegal websites again. Yeah. __________________ Me fail English? That's unpossible.

12-18-2005, 10:04 PM	#18
cool_chik Guest Posts: n/a	What is the worm that is currently spreading around MSN messenger called? The one that comes up "I have a cool block checker go to www.block-checker.com" I need to know so could someone please tell me. I can't be bothered googling it.

12-19-2005, 04:50 PM	#20
cool_chik Guest Posts: n/a	No I'm not talking about that and I can find the removal tool very easily myself. I don't have the worm myself because I am not that stupid to click the link and download the file. I just need the name of the worm because a lot of people have it and they're asking for help from me and I dunno the name of it so I cannot help them. I don't think it really does anything to your computer but displaying an annoying message to people on MSN. To get the worm yourself, just go to www.block-checker.com and download the .exe file that comes with it and open it. Then you have it. Also, a trojan and adware are two different things

03-31-2006, 01:38 PM	#23
Tony Montana Sexy,smart,funny...modest. Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Enjoying my time...hanging around Posts: 15,138	Im using Kaspersky and its great. __________________ "I'm the type to swallow my blood before I swallow my pride"

04-24-2006, 08:13 PM	#24
goaheadask New User - Level 0 Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 17	Anyone having a problem with Limewire? I downloaded limewire4.10 and it kept saying something about a firewall.

04-25-2006, 05:01 AM	#25
André Boxed Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Earth...Frak Earth Posts: 13,589	I'm using it and no problems with it. I'm behind a firewall too. If you are running the Windows firewall you might run into problems. __________________ "I like to think of us a smart-ass teenager country who likes to steal dad's car and make trouble because we think we're invincible. Geez, USA. Get a job" - JBond