Don't bug the life out of your system!

THERE was a time when owning a computer was a luxury. Today, almost every household has one. Interestingly, the highest numbers of computer owners don't know how to manage a system that goes awry. Most of them own a system to meet their communication needs.

It is when the computer starts giving trouble that the system owner realises the thick soup he is in! One fine day, the system starts acting funny alien scripts zip across the document much like an automated typewriter, and files and folders turn into gibberish. In no time, the system seems to develop a mind of its own! In a state of panic, `experts' are called and the problem diagnosed - secondary stage of viral attack, putting your system on the brink of a crash!

Anyone who hasn't seen what a shocked owner of a crashed computer looks like, should do so. It's a lesson in self-control and grief management (especially, when the `expert' charges are received)! Relief (that the expert is there to take care) rapidly turns to utter disbelief that ends in an `Omigosh!' when they discover that they've lost everything they'd so painstakingly saved.

`Crash and viral attack grief management' becomes easy when a user knows how to prevent it in the first place. These easy tips should help you steer clear of common virus attacks.

What's a virus and a worm?

In a layman's lexicon, the virus is a self-replicating program that is designed to secretly enter a system and lodge itself in a program. It creates havoc when the user opens that particular file or folder. Further, like a bad employee, it derives perverse pleasure in corrupting other files, programs and systems as well! The most commonly affected are the .exe and .com programs.

The worm too clones itself but often doesn't infect other programs or systems. It's a program that replicates itself through the Outlook Express address book, through e-mails and so on.

Those of you more aware of IT terminology may have heard of the Trojan. The Trojan is an unpredictable program that slyly embeds itself in the system and can be set off suddenly by an unknown trigger.

Prevention tips

A few basic tips include:

Prevent a virus or worm attack by installing an anti-virus package. There are many available in the market, from Norton to Protector Plus.

Run these programmes whenever you boot into your system, let it scan every file and folder and not just the program files.

Scan every file, attachment, folder etc that you receive via email or wish to download into your computer.

Sometimes, plaintext emails can also be virus infected, so check carefully.

The kak worm hides itself in the outlook express signature file in the email message and gets activated when opened or used. Microsoft manufactures a patch for this.

However, viruses and worms are dynamic. They keep altering and creating new ones. Therefore, anti-virus software, virus checks and virus protection programs should be periodically updated.

Importantly, have a periodic backup of all your crucial data, documents etc. Copy them on to a floppy or burn them on to a CD to secure your data.

Viruses are often contracted when external media or temporary devices are used. These include floppies, CDs, pirated software, Internet downloads, attachments, and so on.

Finally, find a reliable advisor and stay current on issues pertaining to PC management.

How to make out if your computer has got the virus

Check for the following:

Sudden and weird displays

Funny sounds playing automatically

Altered file sizes (usually an increase)

The system memory is very less

Missing files and folders

Altered file and volume names

There are about 30,000 listed virus variations, and new ones constantly evolving.

Any one of these could attack your system anytime! Although not all viruses are malicious, the number of the disruptive sort is high.

Remember there are viruses and more viruses, typically of the following varieties - boot sector, program or file, macro and multipartite. Each has a unique way of attacking. Viruses are intelligent (talk about artificial intelligence!) programs. At times, even if you're using an application that is safe, an infected document in it dependent on a macro language can disrupt your system. So be on the look out! Get yourself insured and your system patched.

SAMYUKTA KODA