Worms

Worms are one of the fastest spreading computer infections. Worms are particularly nasty because they have the ability to self replicate without human interference. Worms can send themselves to other computers. Some worms do this by sending emails without knowing it to contacts in your address book and they can also send themselves through instant messaging. Worms are not always dependent on a user opening a file. This is true with the internet worms that scan the internet for vulnerable computers. These worms attempt to make contact with vulnerable computers and gain full access of them. Worms easily penetrate most firewalls and other networks security measure. Anti-virus software does attempt to battle worms but the success of this depends on your anti-virus and what worm is trying to infect your system. The best way to protect your computer against worms is to have anti-virus software that regularly updates itself and to not open suspicious emails. You should also be cautious when opening email attachments because even a word document can be infected with worms. Like any other infection if you get it there is always a chance that it may crash your computer.

Trojan Horse

Beast

a Trojan Horse program

Many people mistake Trojans as but they often don't spread from computer to computer. Trojans are spread by the user downloading a piece of software that looks legitimate before that install and looks like a legitimate piece of software but instead lets another user access to your computer. Some Trojans may change the user's desktop to display advertisements and some Trojans just install a toolbar in the web browser of the user. Other Trojan Horse infections the computer so person controlling the Trojan software can steal personal information, view the computer screen, download or upload files or log your keystrokes. Hackers don't have to be the person who distributes the virus they can scan a network to see if any computers have the Trojan installed so they can gain access to the computer. Some Trojans can be computer virus by asking a user on an instant messaging network to install the virus. There are Trojans that infect the computer and send messages to instant messenger contacts saying "here is a funny photo of you click on the link to see it" or something similar. Trojan type malware use is becoming more and popular and 83% of all viruses detected are Trojan-type malware. Luckily most times the Trojan infection is detected by anti-virus software before the software is installed so it can't cause any damage. If you suspect you accidently downloaded a Trojan and your anti-virus didn't detect it you should not open the file and have you have your anti-virus do a complete scan of your computer.