There were only viruses to worry about on computers. Then worms began appearing. Worms are not viruses. A virus spreads via another program- a worm does not. In that way, a worm is a worse ‘virus’ than a virus itself. These days, worms are a bigger problem than viruses.
Worms spread very easily over e-mails. People who don’t know much about computers might be tricked into opening an attachment – or worse, just reading (clicking) on an e-mail that doesn’t pure text.
At first, e-mails were only text based. These days, e-mails have pictures, look like Web pages, and so on. Unless you specify that you only want to read or display e-mails as pure text, there’s a high chance you might unleash a worm when you read a worm-infected e-mail that isn’t just pure text. A worm can’t infect a pure text e-mail. Even in just a pure text e-mail, if there’s an attachment, and you don’t know what is inside, it can unleash a worm when you open it too. That’s why it’s important to know some basics.
Computer files usually have an extension to their file name. This helps the computer know what kind of file it is. You can rename this extension into anything you want – including another type of file – and the computer will recognise it as that type of file instead.
Windows usually hides this extension to avoid new users from deleting the extension when they rename a file, but it’s this same friendliness that’s abused by worms. If you remember to leave the original extension to a file name when you’re renaming a file, you can turn extensions on.
Under Windows XP, go to Control Panel and open Folder Options. Click the view tab and you’ll find an option called “Hide extensions…” – unselect this and now all your files will show their extensions after a full stop.
By viewing all files with their extensions visible, you can see if a file is actually what it claims to be – or something else. Say there’s a file called PICTURE.JPG.EXE. if your extensions were hidden, you will only see it as PICTURE.JPG and not know that it’s actually a program. Windows treats a file by the last extension it has. If a file is called “SONGS.MP3.PIF” and you had extensions hidden, you won’t know the file is actually a PIF, or script file, which can have a worm.
Windows Defender
This was previously called Microsoft Anti-spyware. It’s available for Windows 2000 and XP only and you can get it from www.microsoft.com/defender. However, it’s only for original Windows. Many users won’t have original Windows because an original Windows XP Home costs around RM300. So you can get it from here:
download.microsoft.com/download/e/d/0/ed099d5e-dc60-4740-8747-1c72f053b800/WindowsDefender.msi
It’s the same software from Microsoft. It may be Beta, but it’s stable and will help secure your PC.
Worms spread very easily over e-mails. People who don’t know much about computers might be tricked into opening an attachment – or worse, just reading (clicking) on an e-mail that doesn’t pure text.
At first, e-mails were only text based. These days, e-mails have pictures, look like Web pages, and so on. Unless you specify that you only want to read or display e-mails as pure text, there’s a high chance you might unleash a worm when you read a worm-infected e-mail that isn’t just pure text. A worm can’t infect a pure text e-mail. Even in just a pure text e-mail, if there’s an attachment, and you don’t know what is inside, it can unleash a worm when you open it too. That’s why it’s important to know some basics.
Computer files usually have an extension to their file name. This helps the computer know what kind of file it is. You can rename this extension into anything you want – including another type of file – and the computer will recognise it as that type of file instead.
Windows usually hides this extension to avoid new users from deleting the extension when they rename a file, but it’s this same friendliness that’s abused by worms. If you remember to leave the original extension to a file name when you’re renaming a file, you can turn extensions on.
Under Windows XP, go to Control Panel and open Folder Options. Click the view tab and you’ll find an option called “Hide extensions…” – unselect this and now all your files will show their extensions after a full stop.
By viewing all files with their extensions visible, you can see if a file is actually what it claims to be – or something else. Say there’s a file called PICTURE.JPG.EXE. if your extensions were hidden, you will only see it as PICTURE.JPG and not know that it’s actually a program. Windows treats a file by the last extension it has. If a file is called “SONGS.MP3.PIF” and you had extensions hidden, you won’t know the file is actually a PIF, or script file, which can have a worm.
Windows Defender
This was previously called Microsoft Anti-spyware. It’s available for Windows 2000 and XP only and you can get it from www.microsoft.com/defender. However, it’s only for original Windows. Many users won’t have original Windows because an original Windows XP Home costs around RM300. So you can get it from here:
download.microsoft.com/download/e/d/0/ed099d5e-dc60-4740-8747-1c72f053b800/WindowsDefender.msi
It’s the same software from Microsoft. It may be Beta, but it’s stable and will help secure your PC.
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