Info about Computer Programs
Antivirus Programs
Computing science is made up of two major parts: one, is the mathematical side; the other refers to bits- accesing and operating with them. Antivirus programs are a rare case when the two parts interfere. Creating a great antivirus software means that the programmer must be able to work with both of those sections, together. Antivirus are supposed to detect, prevent and act to stop malware’s activity.
Viruses are sets of instructions who try to become part of other computer programs; the corrupted files continue to work, but execute the instruction of the virus, too. The most damaging viruses can crash and destroy data from a large system. Since viruses are little programs designed to spread in the computer, people should be albe to distinguish between viruses, bombs, trojans and worms. Bombs wait silently a specific event to manifest, worms multiply theirselves while spreading, trojans appear as unharmful applications, but cannot propagate theirselves. The first country to introduce penalties for both virus creators and virus senders was Israel, in 1995.
The history of antivirus programs is disputed. However, the first publicly announced virus removal (except laboratories) was made in 1987, by Bernt Fix. By then, spreading was not such a big problem, because it couldn’t happen as fast as nowadays, in the absence of the Internet. Most cases of infection occurred because of the usage of floppy discs. Even if antivirus programs started to be used, they were updated rarely. As soon as the Internet became more common, viruses began to spread faster and wider, but antivirus programs were also getting better, along with the usage of modems. In the beginning, virus writers were using macros of word processors (eg. Microsoft Word), to mix viruses with original documents; this means that computers were exposed to a new risk- that of being infected by documents with hidden macros. Any computer could have been infected by simply previewing a text document.
Nowadays, virus writers have other intentions (financial ones), often proffesionnal and paid by criminal organisations. The biggest antivirus companies agree and might be involved, as long as their products are bought more. They appear ar giving consumers the antidote to a problem, but it’s actually them, the antivirus manufacturers, that took part in generating the problem, in order to increase the need for the solution and, consequently, their incomes. But, of course, this is business at high level.
The truth is that, indeed, computers and personal data are in danger in our times, but an intelligent consumer who can understand some facts and hidden interests is able to find convenient solutions for his protection. Data back-up, switching to a safer browser, email account protection against spam, educating your habits to avoid phishing, creating a password protected and single-user account on your computer, accesing only trusted websites- all these measures decrease the chance to contact malware.
After all, viruses invading your computer are simply codes, but we usually forget about that. Antivirus developers have to work precisely and create good programs, able to face those harmful codes, but, more than that, the user should take all the possible security measures.