Question on viruses

[oldsmokey]

I was told that a computer can only get a virus
from emails, can someone please tell me if that's true or
not
Dave

[Biko]

It is true that you can only get a virus from an attatchment via email etc, but there may be the ability to "carry" a virus into a computer say via Active x, java in the future.

[oldsmokey]

Biko
Thanks for that information
Regards
Dave

[pudds]

What about catching them from infected floppy's, or CD_ROM's?

[Biko]

Pudds
I thought Dave was comparing being online in reference to virus. Although I did use etc, to imply there are other ways we can get viruses, as you mention.

[pudds]

Oh right, see what ya mean :)

[oldsmokey]

Hi Biko & Pudds
I was talking about being on line.
What it is all about My cousin want to download some photo's from the Internet, but she is afraid of viruses.

thanks again
Dave

[pudds]

If she downloads the photo's as jpeg's then it will be fine but if they are in a zip file theres a chance they could be infected i suppose. Depends where your downloading them from really.
If she installs one of the free virus scanners then it will be O.K. either way.

[oldsmokey]

Pudds
I don't know if i can name the sight where the downloads
come from but it start with W and end with SHOTS. I believe
they are jpeg files
Regards
Dave

[pudds]

If they are jpegs your'e o.k.
You can't catch a virus from a jpeg file.

[squidgy]

I think it helps to understand some of the basics here, of what a virus actually is.

Put simply, a virus is a computer program. A virus is a program in much the same way that a browser or word processor or game is a program. Maybe a virus does nasty things, whereas other programs do nice things, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a program.

That means that any method by which you can acquire and run programs on your computer is also a way by which you might get a virus. This includes connecting the computer to the internet, or any network, or using floppy disks or CDROMs. Or installing a hard disk that isn't clean formatted. Or even keying in the binary manually (although, of course, it's highly unlikely that you would do this, especially if you don't understand what it's going to do).

However, there's no need to be too alarmist about this. The best advise is to make sure that you only run programs from sources that you trust.

You can copy programs onto your hard disk as much as you like, but they won't do anything unless you start them. The same thing applies to viruses. A virus won't "infect" your computer unless you give it an opportunity to run. The reason why some people are alarmed by viruses is mainly because they don't understand all the ways in which programs on your computer can be started.

However, there are some things you can do to files that will let you look at their contents without giving them an opportunity to run as programs. It's always safe to use a binary file editor to open any file. It's also always safe to use an image editor to open a file. If you use an image editor to open a file which is actually a program (or a virus) rather than an image file, you simply won't get any picture. But the program won't run anyway, so no harm would have been done by this.

For example, if someone has emailed you an attachment which you think is a picture, but you don't know what you're doing, then DON'T open it directly with your mail client, even if you think you know who sent it to you. Instead, you should save it to your hard disk. But DON'T double click on this file using Windows Explorer. Instead, you should start your image viewer program, and use the Open command in the File menu to open the file.

Doing this will show you the picture without any risk of getting infected by a virus. If it doesn't show any picture, it doesn't necessarily mean that the file is a virus, but it does mean that it's not a picture file - which makes it a bit suspicious if you have been led to believe that it is a picture.

Hope that helps. :)

[oldsmokey]

HI Squidgy
Thanks a lot for that information,I
do not know any thing about viruses apart from it can ruin the computer. I'll print that information
and keep it in my files

Regards Dave

[Biko]

It is really important to have up to date anti-virus software on your computer.

look at the webpages http://www.norton.com/avcenter/vinfodb.html
It gives info on types of viruses and what they do, danger level etc.

[squidgy]

Further to the last post I made, yeah, agree with pudds that you can't catch viruses from JPeg files. Even if you open them from within your mail client. (Unless, of course, your Windows Explorer is set to associate .jpeg files with some program other than a picture viewer .... for example, a browser!)

The point I'd make, though, is that it's not just executable files, it can be scripts and macros as well. So until you've found out what all the file associations are, and you've learned exactly what all the programs that handle them can do, and what the security implications of this are, it's always best just to open files only from within an application which is specifically designed to handle them, eg, open picture files from within image viewers, and multimedia files from within media players etc, and don't cut corners and take shortcuts. :)

[oldsmokey]

Hi Squidgy
Can you please tell me how to do this. I've taken it
from part of your reply to me
, open picture files from within image viewers, and multimedia files from within media players etc, and
Regards Dave
PS I don't know if it makes any difference but my ISP is AOL

[Bluetack]

Any decent AV worth its salt should scan everything automaticaly anyway!

AVG scans every single action the PC does! Its even warned me when i have opened a webpage! i think it was getting a little paraniod about that one though!

Like Biko said keep everything up to date!

For the peeps using AVG, there is another file to download, 2.2MB so it must include changes to the core proggy as well :)

[pudds]

If anyone is thinking of getting a virus scanner i have one piece of advice.
DON'T USE MCAFEE VIRUS SCAN
It's gotta be one of the buggiest most badly programmed pieces of software out there. It can probably do more damage than any virus. :)

[Furby]

I think that the website she is referring to is Webshots, they do the desktop awallpaper applicator too, to make it easier to change wallpaper - I use webshots and it is safe as far as I know - I doubt they would put any viruses in their downloadable files, it is a bit like norton update issuing viruses in their updates ;) Thing is you can never be 100 percent sure though, so getting a good AV program on your machine as has been mentioned is the only answer ;)