The most of peoples make blunder when the topic of a computer
virus arises is to refer to a worm or Trojan horse as a virus. While the words
Trojan, worm and virus are often used interchangeably, they are not the same.
Viruses, worms and Trojan Horses are all malicious programs that can cause
damage to your computer, but there are differences among the three, and knowing
those differences can help you to better protect your computer from their often
damaging effects.

Computer virus

(1) Attaches itself to a program or file so it can spread from one
computer to another, leaving infections as it travels. Much like human viruses

(2) Computer viruses can range in severity: Some viruses cause
only mildly annoying effects while others can damage your hardware, software or
files.

(3) Almost all viruses are attached to an executable file, which
means the virus may exist on your computer but it cannot infect your computer
unless you run or open the malicious program. It is important to note that a
virus cannot be spread without a human action, (such as running an infected
program) to keep it going.

(4) People continue the spread of a computer virus, mostly
unknowingly, by sharing infecting files or sending e-mails with viruses as
attachments in the e-mail.

Worm

(1) A worm is similar to a virus by its design, and is considered
to be a sub-class of a virus. Worms
spread from computer to computer, but unlike a virus, it has the capability to
travel without any help from a person. A worm takes advantage of file or
information transport features on your system, which allows it to travel
unaided.

(2) The biggest danger with a worm is its capability to replicate
itself on your system, so rather than your computer sending out a single worm,
it could send out hundreds or thousands of copies of itself, creating a huge
devastating effect. One example would be for a worm to send a copy of itself to
everyone listed in your e-mail address book. Then, the worm replicates and
sends itself out to everyone listed in each of the receiver's address book, and
the manifest continues on down the line.

(3) Due to the copying nature of a worm and its capability to
travel across networks the end result in most cases is that the worm consumes
too much system memory (or network bandwidth), causing Web servers, network
servers and individual computers to stop responding. In more recent worm
attacks such as the much-talked-about Blaster Worm the worm has been designed
to tunnel into your system and allow malicious users to control your computer
remotely.

Trojan Horse

(1) Trojan Horse is full of as much trickery as the mythological
Trojan Horse it was named after. The Trojan Horse, at first glance will appear
to be useful software but will actually do damage once installed or run on your
computer.

(2) Those on the receiving end of a Trojan Horse are usually
tricked into opening them because they appear to be receiving legitimate
software or files from a legitimate source. When a Trojan is activated on your
computer, the results can vary. Some Trojans are designed to be more annoying
than malicious (like changing your desktop, adding silly active desktop icons)
or they can cause serious damage by deleting files and destroying information on
your system.

(3) Trojans are also known to create a backdoor on your computer
that gives malicious users access to your system, possibly allowing
confidential or personal information to be compromised. Unlike viruses and
worms, Trojans do not reproduce by infecting other files nor do they
self-replicate.

Spyware-Adware

(1) Spyware and Adware collect information about you without
appropriate notice and consent.

About the Author

Spec-India is Software Development Company that offers Mobile Software Application Development, ASP.Net Application Development, HandHeld Computer System Development, Outsourcing Software Development and .Net Framework Application Development

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