DIFFERENT TYPES OF VIRUSES

Computer viruses are computer software that is harmful to computers; it enters a computer without the permission of the owner and without its knowledge. Most of these viruses have the ability to replicate themselves and spread, but some other viruses can cause more serious damages to computers.  They can affect the programs and performance systems.  Computer viruses and worms are similar to human viruses, because they are “alive,” they have to have a host and a weak link like any biological virus. A weak link in a human may be a weak immune system and in a computer a not updated antivirus, they replicate until they reach their target or gain control of the host.

They are several kinds of viruses that can be classified in different areas:

1-Memory Resident Virus:

These types of viruses establish in the computer memory, they infect all the computers fill when the operating system, they can corrupt files that are in the computer. They hide in the ram and they are very efficient because after eliminating the viruses they can stay in the ram and get control of the memory and it can run its own code.

            Some Examples are:

1.      Randex

2.      CMJ

3.      MEVE

4.      MrMklunky

2-Direct Action Viruses:

These viruses are usually found in the hard disk’s root directory. The main purpose is to replicate, and it takes action when the virus is executed.  They are file-infesters, because the corrupt files in the device.  You can find them in computers, pen drives or hard disks.  These types of viruses are hard to get rid of because they change their location into new files.

            Example:

                                    1.Vinenna virus

3-Overwrite viruses:

These kinds of viruses can be very harmful to computers and personal information’s because it deletes the information contained in files that it infects. The virus leaves the field useless once it infected that file. They are located in the file they infected but they are tricky to find because they do not change the size of the file, and the only way to clean the file infected is to delete the entire file, resulting in loosing the original content in that file.

            Example:

1.      WAY

2.      Trj.Reboot

3.      Trivial.88.D

4-Boot Sector Virus

            The boot sector of a hard disk is very important because information of the disk is located there and along with a program it makes possible to start the computer from the disk. The boot sector virus affects the Boot and it makes it difficult for the computer to start.

5-Macro Virus

            These types of virus were created with applications or programs that contained .doc, .xls, .pps, .md. Macro viruses infect these files and also infect templates and many documents that have macro.

Example:

1.RELAX

2.Melissa. A

3.Bablas

6-Directory Virus

            These viruses infect the directory of your computer by changing the location of a file. These viruses are very harmful because once the virus infects your computer it is impossible to locate the original file you are trying to run.

            Example:

                        Dir-2 Virus

2012s worst Viruses

Flame

The first viruses to spread medium Bluetooth, and it was detected in a Russian lab

Belgian Computer Crime Virus

Spread all over the world and charge people a fee saying that this fee was for the police and ask people for personal information.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/different-types-of-computer-viruses.html

http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer/articles/computer-security-threats-computer-viruses

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/V/virus.html

Francisco Salazar