Viruses Spread Beyond the Winter:

Unwelcome Visitors

By Mary K. Warren, Technology Chair

North Carolina Adult Day Services Association

 

Magistr, Goner and Sir Cam have been to visit me.  So have Pretty Park, Love Letter, Happy99 and a host of others.  If you spend any time on-line then you probably recognize these as the names of dreaded viruses, Trojan programs or Internet worms.  At any given moment, thousands are at work across the Internet and waiting to strike unprepared and unsuspecting computers.  Is yours one of them?

 

Unfortunately, many of us don't know how to protect our computers from viruses...or we just get lazy.  Yet, our centers can ill afford to lose our precious computers and data.  It is up to us to protect our systems, as we may not have a technical support team to turn to when things go wrong.  In this article, we'll take a look at how to understand, prevent, diagnosis and respond to this serious and growing problem.

 

Prevention is the best medicine.  You've probably heard "Don't open email from people you don't know" and "Don't download any email attachments."  While there's nothing wrong with that advice, it comes up a bit short when we receive correspondence from potential users of our service (people we don't know) or we receive reports and information from our peers (email attachments).  In fact, it is far more likely that you will receive an email nasty from a friend or family member than from a stranger, since many viruses now exploit the address books of mail programs.  So what do you do?

 

Because of the multitude of viruses "in the wild", the only real choice for prevention is to use antivirus software to protect your system.  There are several good choices on the market and they work in slightly different ways.  Some rely mostly on web site based scanning so that the bulk of updating for newly discovered viruses is handled on a server.  Others download the updated files directly to your computer. It is crucial that the information used by the antivirus program is updated to reflect newly discovered viruses.  The antivirus program files should be updated at least once a month.  Using outdated antivirus files will not protect your data or your computer.

 

Scanning for potential infections is equally important.  Just having updated antivirus information available will not protect your data or your system.  That information has to be used.  Make it a habit to scan all downloads, attachments, pictures, disks, etc. before opening them.  Your software program will explain how to do this but most install this command option under the File menu in Windows Explorer.

 

Other things to consider:

 

u Check the settings on your antivirus software to make sure that it scans as the computer starts (boot-on) and that it scans all files.  The default setting on some software may omit scans of certain file extensions.  Some programs offer automated settings for email scans in mail programs like Microsoft Outlook.  Also look for scheduling of antivirus updates.  Automated updates work best with an "always on" cable or DSL connection.  However, if updates aren't scheduled, then you must remember to do them manually. You may be asked to set for use of "heuristics".  This means the software will look for suspicious patterns in code that could indicate a problem. Consider how you want a program to respond if a virus infection is found and set accordingly.  The easiest option is to allow the software to delete or automatically clean the infected file.

u Be suspicious of email that seems odd or doesn't make sense.  Multiple copies of the same subject line in your email in-box might indicate a problem.  Snippets of random text or strange file extensions may mean that a virus or worm is at work.  Most attachments that are received in the course of your workday will have extensions associated with pictures or Office programs.  File extensions such as *.vbs, *.bat, *. pif, *.exe, *.com  and others  should be approached with caution.

u Be suspicious of odd behavior by your computer.  We all have programs crash from time to time but unexplained error messages, dancing desktop icons, changing file sizes and things of this nature may indicate a problem.

u Check for double file extensions on attachments.  Some viruses attach themselves to legitimate files and will appear as a double file extension.  The Loveletter email worm appeared with a double extension ( *. txt.vbs).  Consider enabling complete file extension viewing in Windows Explorer under the View/Folder Options/View or for Win 2000 users Tools/Folder Options/ViewTools/Folder Options/File Types.  The default setting hides file extensions.

u Consider firewall software as a supplement to your antivirus.  Firewalls can alert you if a program is accessing the Internet without your knowledge.  In the case of some Trojan programs, the purpose of an infection may be to send personal information from your computer back to the writer.  Zone Labs offers firewall protection free for personal and non-profit use and can be configured to alert you to unauthorized access of the Internet.

u Disable macros in Office programs.  Macros are a series of automated actions that can be easily exploited by viruses.  This option appears under the Tools menu in Office programs such as Access.

u Disable automatic previews in your email program.  Previewing is the same as opening when it comes to viruses.  Many emails now include pictures which can be exploited by virus writers.

u Be wary of hoaxes that may cause you to panic. " Sulfnbk" is an example of a recent hoax that has led unsuspecting readers to delete a legitimate Windows system file.  Vmyths.com and the Antivirus section at About.com  offers hoax information, as do some antivirus vendor websites.

u Backup, backup, backup.  Relying on antivirus software may not protect you from every threat and it's no substitute for good computing habits.  Be ready for the worst by backing up your critical data and making a boot-on or rescue disk.  If you don't have one, make one today by going into My Computer/ControlPanel/AddRemove Programs/Startupdisk.¥

 

Reprinted from The Information Source for Adult Day Centers, February 2002