2. Computer Viruses A guide to virus protection,detection, and removal for the average computer user

3. The Team:  Ross Smith  Computer Engineering  Andrew Freed  Computer Science  Emily Brucker  Computer Engineering  Matt Peter  Computer Science  Greg Williams

4. Goals  Background on virus definitions  Protecting your computer  Identifying computer viruses  Instruct on removal of viruses

5. What is a Computer Virus?  Logic Bomb  Triggered by certain event/date  Trojan Horse  Bad software ‘masquerades’ as good software  Worm  Tries to spread over networks by duplicating  Virus  Uses good software as a host

6. Virus Protection  Virus protection software program  Norton AntiVirus  McAfee VirusScan

7. Virus Avoidance  Monitor Electronic Mail  Check the Sender’s Name  Unknown Sender  Check the Subject of the Mail  Keywords

8. Virus Avoidance  Visiting Websites  Reputation of site  Downloaded material

9. Identifying Viruses Before They Strike 1) Keep up with technology news for impending attacks 2) Visit Symantec’s virus calendar and encyclopedia to learn about lesser publicized threats www.symantec.com

10. How to Detect an Infected Computer 1. Abnormal Activity 2. Visual Signs 3. Decreased Bandwidth

11. Best Method of Virus Detection … is definitely virus software. Source : Download.com

12. Removing a Virus – Places to Check  Websites  Symantec (Norton) – www.symantec.com/avcenterwww.symantec.com/avcenter  McAfee (VirusShield) – www.mcafee.comwww.mcafee.com  Windows Tools  Safe Mode  System Configuration Editor  System Configuration Utility  Registry Editor

13. Removing a Virus – Safe Mode  Safe Mode is a basic configuration of Windows – used primarily for debugging  Minimum number of items are loaded  This means no extra programs can start – AIM, AOL, or viruses !  If a virus doesn’t start up, you can find the file and delete it

14. Removing a Virus – System Configuration Editor  A look at system files  Look for ‘run=‘ and ‘load=‘ lines that might initialize a virus

15. Removing a Virus – System Configuration Utility  A more intuitive look at system startup  Interesting tab is ‘Startup’  Shows you programs that load automatically – do any look out of place?

16. Removing a Virus – Registry Editor  Difficult – not for the faint of heart!  Must be very careful in the Registry  Viruses often affect the same Registry locations - Startup - Executables

17. Questions/Comments?