INCREASE YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

What is a virus?

In 1983, researcher Fred Cohen defined a computer virus as “a program that can “infect” other programs by modifying them to include a version of itself.” This means that viruses copy themselves, usually by encryption* or by mutating** slightly each time they copy. There are several types of viruses, but the ones that are the most dangerous are designed to corrupt your computer or software programs. Viruses can range from an irritating*** message flashing on your computer screen to eliminating data on your hard drive. Viruses often use your computer's internal clock as a trigger.

Some of the most popular dates used are Friday the 13th and famous birthdays. It is important to remember that viruses are dangerous only if you execute (start) an infected program. There are three main kinds of viruses. Each kind is based on the way the virus spreads.

1. Boot Sector Viruses- These viruses attach themselves to floppy disks and then copy themselves into the boot sector of your hard drive. (The boot sector is the set of instructions your computer uses when it starts up.) When you start your computer (or reboot it; your hard drive gets infected. You can get boot sector viruses only from an infected floppy disk. You cannot get one from sharing files or executing programs.

This type of virus is becoming less common because today's computers do not require a boot disk to start, but they can still be found on disks that contain other types of files.

One of the most common boot sector viruses is called "Monkey”, also known as "Stoned".

2. Program Viruses- These viruses (also known as traditional file viruses) attach themselves to programs' executable files. They can infect any file that your computer runs when it launches a program. When you start a program that contains a virus, the virus usually loads into your computer's memory. When the virus is in your computer's memory, it can infect any other program that is started. Program viruses that have circulated recently are "SKA" and "Loveletter."

3. Macro Viruses- These viruses attach themselves to templates that are used to create documents or spreadsheets. Once a template is infected, every document or spreadsheet you open using that program also will become infected. Macro viruses are widespread because they infect commonly used office applications and spread between PCs and Macintoshes. Macro viruses include “Concept”, “Melissa”, and “Have a Nice Day”.

NANOELECTRONICS

Nanoelectronics refer to the use of nanotechnology on electronic components, especially transistors. Although the term nanotechnology is generally defined as utilizing technology less than 100 nm in size, nanoelectronics often refer to transistor devices that are so small that inter-atomic interactions and quantum mechanical properties need to be studied extensively. As a result, present transistors do not fall under this category, even though these devices are manufactured under 45 nm or 32 nm technology.

Nanoelectronics are sometimes considered as disruptive technology because present candidates are significantly different from traditional transistors. Some of these candidates include: hybrid molecular/semiconductor electronics, one dimensional nanotubes/ nanowires, or advanced molecular electronics.

Although all of these hold promise for the future, they are still under development and will most likely not be used for manufacturing any time soon.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 966