1. What is a Trojan Horse Virus? It is a program that is downloaded usually with a music or move file. They usually will erase memory, send credit card #s and passwords to strangers and let them steal identities without the person knowing it.

2. Why is it called a “Trojan Horse”? Legend has it that the Greeks won the Trojan war by hiding in a huge, hollowed out horse that was given as a gift to the city of Troy. They were then able to sneak in without anyone knowing and then captured the city and won their war. This program sneaks in with another downloaded file and gives out your information without you knowing it ever happened.

3. It isn’t actually a virus It is actually a destructive program that masks itself as being a normal application. Viruses replicate themselves Trojan Horses do not replicate. Some of the Trojan Horses actually are downloaded as file to get rid of viruses.

4. How will you know if you’ve been infected? People are asking you why you’re trying to send them computer viruses or Trojan horses You can unhide your file extensions such “exe”, “vbs”, “com”, “bat”, etc. A Trojan horse will have multiple extensions because it attaches itself to other files that might look something like “LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs”

5. How to avoid downloading them Download a good virus scan to check your computer for such files. Get a virus scan that will do updates to try and keep track of what’s going into your computer. Firewalls are good to have but don’t do that much against them because you’re downloading it.

6. Other ways to avoid Trojan Horses Don’t download blindly from sites you aren’t 100% sure about. Know what files you’re opening even if you think it’s from a friend. Look out for file extensions. Don’t think that you are 100% protected just because you have a virus-scan program because they aren’t perfect.

7. How to fight off Trojans if infected You need to do a Clean Re-installation. This is the only sure way to get rid of a Trojan or virus. Save everything you need on your computer. Reformat the disk and re-install you operating system.

8. Bibliography Lo, Joseph. "Trojan Horse Attacks." Online posting. 14 Oct. 2004. 20 Apr. 2005. Webopedia. 18 Feb. 2005. 20 Apr. 2005. "Fake Microsoft Update Is Trojan Horse." Wireless: NewsFactor 11 April 2005. 20 April 2005