What are the most common computer viruses?

There are numerous computer viruses that can affect both PC and Mac computers. The most common include the following:

The Love Bug virus:
The Love Bug virus, also known as the ILOVEYOU virus, originated in the Philippines and quickly spread around the world in early 2000. The Love Bug virus email contained the text “ILOVEYOU” in the subject line and an attachment that, when opened, would spread the virus to the recipient’s address book and overwrite files with copies of itself.

The Blaster virus:
The Blaster virus was first discovered in August 2003 and quickly spread through email and infected computers that were not protected by a firewall. The Blaster virus caused infected computers to reboot continuously and then displayed a message that read, “I just want to say LOVE YOU SAN!”

The Melissa virus:
The Melissa virus was first discovered in March 1999 and was spread through email. The Melissa virus would automatically send itself to the first 50 people in the victim’s address book. The email would have the subject line “Important Message From [name]” and the body of the email would state “Here is that document you asked for…don’t show anyone else ;-).” Once the attachment was opened, the virus would replicate itself and send itself to more people in the address book.

The Sasser virus:
The Sasser virus was first discovered in 2004 and spread quickly through email and infected unprotected computers. The Sasser virus would cause infected computers to reboot continuously.

The Conficker virus:
The Conficker virus, also known as the Downadup virus, was first discovered in 2008 and spread quickly through email and infected unprotected computers. The Conficker virus would disable security features on an infected computer and allow the computer to be controlled remotely.

The CryptoLocker virus:
The CryptoLocker virus was first discovered in 2013 and spread quickly through email and infected unprotected computers. The CryptoLocker virus would encrypt the user’s files and demand a ransom be paid in order to decrypt the files.

Computer viruses can be very destructive and costly. It is important to have a good antivirus program installed on your computer and to practice good computer security habits in order to protect your computer from these threats.

How can computer viruses be prevented?

Computer viruses are pesky little things that can cause a lot of damage to your computer. The best way to prevent them is to have a good antivirus program installed on your computer and to keep it updated. You should also avoid clicking on links or downloading files from unknown sources.

Visit malwarezero.org to learn more about computer viruses. Disclaimer: We used this website as a reference for this blog post.