James Stewart Learning Portfolio in IT 645 Chapter 3 & 4

1. What is a computer virus and how is it transmitted? What can you do to protect your computer?

One word that anyone who has a computer hates to hear is “virus.” The computer is a sensitive, susceptive device that can easily be destroyed by a computer virus. As described in the chapter, a computer virus is a program written specifically to disrupt a computer’s operations and/or destroy data. They are often transmitted from computer to computer by surreptitiously attaching themselves to normal files on the computer. When these infected files are saved to a floppy disk that is later used on a virus-free computer, the virus is exposed to the healthy computer’s hard drive. From then on any other floppy disk that is used can be infected; thereby, infecting many other computers. Many of the computers that have viruses on them are gotten from the internet by students whp have downloaded games on sites that have these viruses on them.

For most viruses there is an antivirus. To protect your computer you should use an antivirus program. As explained in the reading, an antivirus program detects and destroys computer viruses. They do this by scanning the hard drive and floppy disks used in the machine and warn the user if any possible virus is detected. To furthered protect your computer, you should have the antivirus program used updated monthly. According to the reading, frequent updates will ensure that the antivirus program has the latest list of new viruses and virus countermeasures.