Viruses are transmitted via magnetic and/or electronic mediums because of careless and/or ignorant computing activities. These magnetic and electronic mediums include:

1. floppy disks
2. computer memory
3. hard disks
4. network wires
5. network hard disks
6. bootleg programs
7. rogue software
8. rogue websites or servers

And in some rare cases, viruses may even be spread via wireless networks and/or EPROM (firmware) chips.

Since November 1987 when the Internet Worm created by Robert T. Morris, Jr. wreaked over $100 million worth of problems on computers connected to the Internet, it has been obvious that having computers connected on a computer network increased the possibility of virus infections. That is not to say that networks are bad, in fact networks are becoming more and more essential and valuable all the time. It's just that being online on a network, a BBS, or dialed into a remote computer increases the possibility of contact with viruses.

No. It is expected that all computer users will recognize the seriousness of a virus attack and call your company Help Desk or an experienced person immediately.

Best case, a virus may turn out to be a nuisance, such as playing a song repeatedly at random times. In the worst case, a virus can rapidly spread through a system or a group of systems on a computer network, rapidly destroying programs and data. The biggest problems with viruses is that they can spread and do their work silently, quickly, and efficiently, before you ever discover that they are there.

At last count, there are over 11,000 viruses, and the list grows at about at least 50 new viruses per month. As you would guess this certainly is enough to keep the anti-virus software producers in business.

Prevention of virus attacks requires a conscious effort in the area of "safe-computing". Safe computing means

Systems which are affected with viruses act erratically. Sometimes the virus will identify itself with a message giving its name on the screen of your computer monitor. In extreme cases, enough data and/or programs may have been destroyed to prevent your computer from successfully booting.

Does your PC have any of the following symptoms?

1. Programs taking longer than normal to load and execute.
2. Disk access taking longer than usual.
3. Unusual screen activity.
4. Hardware malfunctions.
5. Files are disappearing.
6. Strange files appearing.
7. Warning messages appearing.
8. Vindictive or threatening messages.
9. Disk drive lights coming randomly without reason.
10. Memory or disk space reduced.
11. Increases in program file sizes
12. Apparent data destruction or contamination errors.

Call the Help Desk or a qualified technical person immediately. Since viruses can constitute a serious threat to a data intensive organization such as a law firm, it is absolutely imperative that virus outbreaks are quickly isolated, identified, and treated so it prevents their continued spread. Your contacting the Help Desk to get experienced people dispatched on the problem is the best way to check a virus attack.

Certain people get a thrill from using their intimate technical knowledge of software, computers, and human behavior, to write destructive software which wreaks havoc in the workplace. Another chief reason that viruses are written is to seek revenge against Americans for being ahead in computer technology and in the business environment. Since it is now illegal to write software which destroys other software and data, the people who write viruses are not only doing it to get a thrill, they are also breaking the law and they risk severe criminal and civil penalties if they are caught.

An interesting quote from The Computer Virus Protection Handbook by Colin Hayes, pp 28 - 29, 1990, SYBEX, gives further insight about the types of people who write computer viruses:

There are several which have been published since 1988. Listed below are several very good texts:

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