What to do if you think you have a computer virus

If you think you have a computer virus, the first thing you should do is scan your computer for malware. There are many free malware scanners available online, such as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and AVG Anti-Virus Free. Once you have scanned your computer and found any malware, you should remove it immediately.

If you do not have any malware removal program installed, you can try using the Windows built-in tool, Windows Defender. To open Windows Defender, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Windows Defender. Once the program is open, click on the Scan now button to start scanning your computer for malware.

If you think that your computer is still infected even after scanning and removing any malware, you should take some additional steps to make sure that your computer is clean. One thing you can do is to run a System Restore. This will restore your computer to an earlier point in time when it was not infected. To do this, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore.

Another thing you can do is to use a live CD or USB drive to boot into a clean environment. This way, you can scan and clean your computer without having to worry about any malware that may be active in your system. There are many live CD/USB drives available for free, such as Kaspersky Rescue Disk and AVG Rescue USB.

If you are still having problems with your computer, or if you do not feel confident enough to clean it yourself, you can always take it to a professional computer repair shop..Original Content

The most famous computer viruses
of all time

In the early days of computing, viruses were narrowly defined as programs that replicated themselves by inserting copies of themselves into other executable code or documents. Over time, however, the term has come to be used more broadly, to refer to any type of malicious code or program.

Today, viruses are just one type of malware, which is short for malicious software. Malware also includesworms, Trojan horses, rootkits, ransomware, and adware. Viruses are often used to steal personal information, such as credit card numbers, or to hold computer systems hostage for ransom.

The term “computer virus” was coined in the early 1980s by Fred Cohen, a computer science graduate student at the University of Southern California. Cohen published a seminal paper on computer viruses in which he defined a virus as “a program that can ‘infect’ other programs by modifying them to include a, possibly evolved, copy of itself.”

Cohen’s paper sparked a wave of interest in the fledgling field of computer security and led to the development of anti-virus software. In the decades since, viruses have become much more sophisticated and widespread, with malware now capable of infecting everything from individual computers to entire networks.

The first known computer virus, dubbed the ” Creeper virus,” was created in 1971 by BBN Technologies engineer Bob Thomas. The Creeper virus was designed as a proof-of-concept and was not intended to be malicious.

However, a subsequent virus created by Thomas and fellow BBN engineer Ray Tomlinson, called the ” Reaper,” was designed to delete the Creeper virus. The Reaper virus succeeded in eradicating the Creeper virus, but also replicated itself so rapidly that it quickly caused network outages across the ARPANET, the forerunner to the modern internet.

The Creeper and Reaper viruses are now considered to be the first examples of self-replicating code.

In 1983, a virus dubbed ” Elk Cloner” became the first to infect Apple computers. Elk Cloner was spread via floppy disk and infected the computer’s startup program, displaying a short poem each time the system was booted.

Despite its innocuous payload, Elk Cloner was significant because it was the first virus to spread in the wild.

The following year, another virus called ” Brain” became the first to infect IBM PCs. Brain was a boot sector virus that corrupted the computer’s hard drive and spread itself to other PCs on a network.

The Brain virus was created by two Pakistani brothers, Basit and Amjad Farooq Alvi, who used it to infected the computers of their competitors in the medical transcription business.

In 1987, the first macro virus, dubbed ” Concept,” was released into the wild. Macro viruses are written in the macro programming languages built into many applications, such as Microsoft Word and Excel.

Concept was spread via infected Word documents and would infect other documents on the same computer. Once a document was infected, the virus would insert a dialog box that asked the user to “enable macros” in order to view the document.

If the macros were enabled, the virus would replicate and infect other documents on the computer. If the macros were not enabled, the document would appear to be normal.

In 1988, the ” Morris worm” became the first computer worm to spread itself on the internet. The Morris worm was written by Robert Tappan Morris, a Cornell University graduate student.

The Morris worm was designed to study the structure of the internet, but contained a coding error that caused it to spread much more rapidly than intended. The worm ended up infecting more than 6,000 computers, causing an estimated $10 million in damage.

In 1999, the ” Melissa virus” became the first mass-mailing virus. Melissa was a macro virus that infected Microsoft Word documents and email attachments.

When a user opened an infected document, the virus would replicate and send itself to the first 50 addresses in the user’s Microsoft Outlook address book. The virus caused millions of dollars in damage and resulted in the arrest of its creator, David L. Smith.

In 2000, the ” I Love You” virus became the first major virus to spread via email. The I Love You virus was a Trojan horse that posed as an email from a lover.

When opened, the email would display the message ” I Love You” and then proceed to infect the user’s computer with a worm that would replicate and send itself to everyone in the user’s address book.

The I Love You virus caused an estimated $10 billion in damage and resulted in the arrest of its creator, Onel de Guzman, in the Philippines.

In 2001, the ” Nimda virus” became the fastest-spreading virus to date. Nimda was a multipronged virus that spread via email, networks, and removable media.

Nimda was particularly damaging because it was able to replicate and spread itself so quickly. The virus caused an estimated $750 million in damage and was responsible for bringing down the White House website.

In 2002, the ” Klez virus” became the first mass-mailing virus to use spoofed email addresses. Klez was a worm that spread itself via email attachments.

When an email was opened, the virus would replicate and send itself to everyone in the user’s address book. The email would appear to come from a random address, making it more likely that users would open the attachment.

Klez was particularly damaging because it was able to evade many early detection systems. The virus caused an estimated $70 million in damage.

In 2003, the ” Blaster worm” became the first major virus to exploit a critical security flaw in Microsoft Windows. Blaster was a worm that spread itself via networks and the internet.

When a computer was infected, the worm would send a message to a specific internet address that contained the address of the infected computer. The worm would then proceed to download and execute a file that would disable the computer’s security systems.

The file would also open a port on the computer that would allow the worm to spread itself to other computers on the same network.

The Blaster worm was particularly damaging because it took advantage of a newly discovered security flaw in Microsoft Windows. The virus caused an estimated $10 billion in damage and was responsible for bringing down the servers of many major companies, including Microsoft.

In 2004, the ” Sasser worm” became the first major virus to spread via the internet without the need for email or user interaction. Sasser was a worm that exploit a critical security flaw in the Microsoft Windows operating system.

When a computer was infected, the worm would automatically spread itself to other computers on the same network. Sasser was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages.

The virus caused an estimated $50 million in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including British Airways and Deutsche Bahn.

In 2006, the ” Storm worm” became the first major virus to spread via instant messages. Storm was a worm that spread itself via email attachments and instant messages.

When a user opened an email attachment or instant message, the virus would replicate and send itself to everyone in the user’s address book. The email would appear to come from a random address, making it more likely that users would open the attachment or message.

Storm was particularly damaging because it was able to evade many early detection systems. The virus caused an estimated $50 million in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including IBM and Lenovo.

In 2007, the ” iPhone worm” became the first major virus to spread via the iPhone. The iPhone worm was a Trojan horse that infected jailbroken iPhones.

When an iPhone was infected, the virus would replicated and send itself to all of the user’s contacts. The virus would also disable the iPhone’s security systems, making it more vulnerable to attacks.

The iPhone worm was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages. The virus caused an estimated $50 million in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including Apple.

In 2008, the ” Conficker worm” became the first major virus to spread via the internet without the need for email or user interaction. Conficker was a worm that exploited a critical security flaw in the Microsoft Windows operating system.

When a computer was infected, the worm would automatically spread itself to other computers on the same network. Conficker was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages.

The virus caused an estimated $9.1 billion in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including Google and Facebook.

In 2009, the ” Waledac virus” became the first major virus to spread via the social networking site Twitter. Waledac was a worm that spread itself via Twitter messages.

When a user clicked on a link in a Waledac-infected message, the virus would replicate and send itself to all of the user’s contacts. The virus would also disable the security systems of the computer, making it more vulnerable to attacks.

The Waledac virus was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages. The virus caused an estimated $50 million in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including Twitter.

In 2010, the ” Stuxnet worm” became the first major virus to spread via the internet without the need for email or user interaction. Stuxnet was a worm that exploited a critical security flaw in the Microsoft Windows operating system.

When a computer was infected, the worm would automatically spread itself to other computers on the same network. Stuxnet was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages.

The virus caused an estimated $1 billion in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including Iran’s nuclear facilities.

In 2011, the ” Flame virus” became the first major virus to spread via the internet without the need for email or user interaction. Flame was a worm that exploited a critical security flaw in the Microsoft Windows operating system.

When a computer was infected, the worm would automatically spread itself to other computers on the same network. Flame was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages.

The virus caused an estimated $50 million in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including Microsoft.

In 2012, the ” Shamoon virus” became the first major virus to spread via the internet without the need for email or user interaction. Shamoon was a worm that exploited a critical security flaw in the Microsoft Windows operating system.

When a computer was infected, the worm would automatically spread itself to other computers on the same network. Shamoon was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages.

The virus caused an estimated $1 billion in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including Saudi Aramco.

In 2013, the ” Cryptolocker virus” became the first major virus to spread via the internet without the need for email or user interaction. Cryptolocker was a Trojan horse that encrypted the files on the computer’s hard drive and demanded a ransom for the decryption key.

Cryptolocker was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages. The virus caused an estimated $1 billion in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including FedEx.

In 2014, the ” Shellshock virus” became the first major virus to spread via the internet without the need for email or user interaction. Shellshock was a worm that exploited a critical security flaw in the UNIX Bash shell.

When a computer was infected, the worm would automatically spread itself to other computers on the same network. Shellshock was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages.

The virus caused an estimated $1 billion in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including Yahoo.

In 2015, the ” Stagefright virus” became the first major virus to spread via the Android operating system. Stagefright was a worm that spread itself via multimedia messages.

When a user received a Stagefright-infected message, the virus would automatically spread itself to the user’s contacts. Stagefright was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages.

The virus caused an estimated $1 billion in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including Samsung.

In 2016, the ” WannaCry virus” became the first major virus to spread via the internet without the need for email or user interaction. WannaCry was a worm that exploited a critical security flaw in the Microsoft Windows operating system.

When a computer was infected, the worm would automatically spread itself to other computers on the same network. WannaCry was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages.

The virus caused an estimated $4 billion in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including the National Health Service in the UK.

In 2017, the ” NotPetya virus” became the first major virus to spread via the internet without the need for email or user interaction. NotPetya was a worm that exploited a critical security flaw in the Microsoft Windows operating system.

When a computer was infected, the worm would automatically spread itself to other computers on the same network. NotPetya was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages.

The virus caused an estimated $1 billion in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including Maersk and Merck.

In 2018, the ” Spectre and Meltdown viruses” became the first major viruses to spread via the internet without the need for email or user interaction. Spectre and Meltdown were worms that exploited critical security flaws in the Intel and ARM processors.

When a computer was infected, the worm would automatically spread itself to other computers on the same network. Spectre and Meltdown were particularly damaging because they were able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages.

The virus caused an estimated $1 billion in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including Google and Microsoft.

In 2019, the ” Sodinokibi virus” became the first major virus to spread via the internet without the need for email or user interaction. Sodinokibi was a ransomware that encrypted the files on the computer’s hard drive and demanded a ransom for the decryption key.

Sodinokibi was particularly damaging because it was able to spread quickly and caused widespread system outages. The virus caused an estimated $1 billion in damage and was responsible for bringing down the systems of many major companies, including Canon.

We used malwarezero.org to write this article about computer viruses. Original Article.