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Virus Basics Bill Brewer—WHS CTC Joe Alvarado—WHS Tech Agenda Virus basics What to be concerned about Office protection Anti-virus messages What is a virus? A virus is a program that self-replicates It is not data You can only catch a virus by running a program
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Virus Basics Bill Brewer—WHS CTC Joe Alvarado—WHS Tech
Agenda • Virus basics • What to be concerned about • Office protection • Anti-virus messages
What is a virus? • A virus is a program that self-replicates • It is not data • You can only catch a virus by running a program • Your computer runs all kinds of programs
Basic virus terminology • Virus • Self-replicating • Also called a worm • Trojan Horse • A program which appears to be valuable but has an unexpected consequence
How viruses get into computers • The four most common virus infections come from: • File – A virus type that infects existing files on the computer (~40%) • Macro – A virus that runs as a macro in a host application such as the MS Office applications (~35%) • VBScript – A virus that uses Windows VisualBasic Script functionality (~10%) • Internet Worm – A virus that is primarily characterized by it’s replication across the Internet (~5%)
Basic virus defense • Don’t open files that you are not expecting • Many viruses automatically send files without the e-mail account owner’s knowledge. • Ask the sender to confirm unexpected files. • Suspect messages that appear more than once in your Inbox • You may receive the same e-mail from a virus repeatedly.
Basic virus defense (cont.) • Learn file extensions • Your computer will display both an icon and a file extension for files you receive. Open only file extensions you know are safe.
Examples of risky file types • The following file types should never be opened: • .EXE • .PIF • .BAT • .VBS • .COM
Office protection • Office files are mostly data with some program code • Office macros are programs, which can be viruses • Office will prompt you to enable macros • Enable macros only when you know why office is asking
Outlook file security • Outlook will automatically block some kinds of executable files, but not all • Do not assume that because the file made it through Outlook that it is safe
Anti-virus warnings • Follow instructions on the screen when you receive a virus warning from Mcafee Antivirus or Computer Associates Antivirus • Most of the time, the virus software will detect and prevent the infection.
Conclusion • Leave machines on at all times. Computers can be logged off but just turn off monitors. • Thank you