subject: Investigation Because Of A Virus [print this page] Author: Irene Miller Author: Irene Miller
The latter part of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century marked an increasingly efficient information technology superhighway called the Internet. It is possible for information to travel through the Internet, in almost as fast as the speed of light. This new technology has brought a lot of good things to the public, such as social networking sites, internet relay forums, e-commerce, and video conferencing. But as always, with the good comes the bad.
Some people, called hackers, have also used the Internet as a tool to destroy valuable information, or tamper with peoples private accounts. Viruses have turned on a rampage in the Internet many times before. Unsuspecting people using the Internet may not be aware that the software they are downloading is loaded with a Trojan or a worm virus. Some software also contain spyware or malware, which either harvests private information and sends it to a hacker online, or is a ticking bomb that slowly destroys the computer.
One symptom which indicates that your computer has been infected by a virus is when the Internet connection is so slow. One possible reason is that the computer system might have been infected by a virus or spyware, taking up a lot of bandwidth, and allowing a hacker to gain access to the computer users private information stored on the hard drive. Another possibility is that an unauthorized browser might have been downloaded with the computer users knowledge or consent. These BHOs or browser helper objects takes up a lot of diskspace and bandwidth, thereby slowing down the computers processing speed and internet connection.
The worst case scenario for a slow Internet connection is the presence of an unwanted computer worm in the program. While computer virus infects the software programs, causing inconvenience in the systems function, a computer worm can lead to a complete system failure. A similar incident happened at the University of Pittsburgh campus in Johnstown. A worm virus has infected the computer labs, and its Internet access has been in a virtual standstill. This has prompted school officials to closed down computer lab operations. However, it is fortunate that no vital data has been lost from the students computers. Similar accounts seemed to be pretty common in other companies and in other parts of the world.
To protect the computer systems, there are antivirus software or programs available online which one can download for free. For instance, cyberdefender has a cyber defender download system available online. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and not even computers are immune to viruses.About the Author:
Irene Miller is a teacher. She loves words and plays with them.
