How to Avoid Computer Viruses

There is a war being fought, often right underneath our very noses. It is a war fought not with guns, or with bombs, but by computer viruses, worms and Trojan horses. Computer viruses have been around for a long time. They’re often hidden in your e-mail inbox, among all those offers for quick cash, a bag of diamonds, enlarging this and reducing that, even spam telling you how to get rid of spam.

A worm is a type of computer virus that generally spreads and replicates itself without relying on any actions on the part of a computer user. A Trojan horse masquerades as a benign program, sometimes one that claims to get rid of viruses, when in truth it inserts a virus into your computer.

Virus attacks haven’t attracted much notice from mainstream news media, although that has begun to change. Over the past years, several viruses of varying types, such as the “Blaster” worm virus, made national and international headlines. Law enforcement has historically had a tough time dealing with cases like these. It’s tough to track down computer hackers.