Prevent Viruses and Botnets
Viruses
According to Wikipedia, a "computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the permission or knowledge of the user."
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Virus Protection
There are many different programs available to keep your computer protected from viruses. The most important thing about virus protection is to keep it up to date! Most virus programs will automatically check for updates. This is an important feature as every day a new virus is written and every day the antivirus companies must write code to keep your computer safe from infection. If you are a faculty, staff or student at Virginia Commonwealth University, you may download Sophos Antivirus for free. VCU has also created a page for the most common questions related to this software which is accessible here.
Checking Your Definitions Date
To check to see when your antivirus definitions were last updated, hover over the antivirus icon in the lower right corner of your task bar on Windows. For Sophos, you can right click the blue shield and choose update now to get the most recent set of virus definitions.
Don't forget to Scan your USB Drives!
A number of viruses can be transported via USB. It is a good practice to plug in your USB drive, go to My Computer, right click on the drive letter and click Scan with Sophos (or your antivurs software).
Complete this activity - put the steps in order for running a manual scan of Sophos antivirus.
Botnets
According to Wikipedia, a botnet "...is generally used to refer to a collection of compromised computers (called Zombie computers) running software, usually installed via worms, Trojan horses, or backdoors." A "bot herder" or "botmaster" is the person who controls the zombie computers. Sometimes a botnet will send personal information back to the botmaster. Other times the botmaster will control the computers to send SPAM on the botmaster's behalf. Please watch the video below from Symantec which describes the concept of a botnet and what you can do to keep your computer from becoming a Zombie!
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