Viruses Protection

BY FRED ATEWILL

NEXT time your computer crashes or your inbox seizes up with spam, blame one of these. They may look like psychedelic works of art but they are, in fact, electronic viruses. An internet security firrn worked out the programming code for some widespread viruses which a specialist computer artist then turned into 3D-shapes. But don't be fooled by the mesmerising results. These little blighters can cause serious problems to your computer. Elegant organic tendrils may represent part of an e-mail worm that scours networks searching for new e-mail addresses to send itself to. It's no coincidence the images resemble magnified images of real viruses that can ravage the body. Paul Wood, from MessageLabs, said: 'Viruses or spam clog up computers and make it difficult to perform work. 'Other viruses take over the machine in a parasitic fashion to allow criminals on the internet to use it remotely.' One widespread spam virus originating in Russia charmingly targets people's insecurities about their looks with messages such as 'Ever heard that you're getting fat' to try to shame people into responding. But at least they make pretty pictures... See more images at metro.co.uk

Points to remember about Viruses Infection:

• Attached files allow sending other files across the net using email.
• There maybe a limit to the size of the files you can send.
• A compression system maybe in use to transfer files.
• When attached files are recieved they may require some sort of decryption or decoding.
• Be aware that attached files can carry viruses.

See Also:  Data Security