How Do I Protect Myself From Viruses?

Computer viruses are hidden programs that can seriously damage your computer. Possible consequences of computer viruses: Some programs can no longer be started and data is lost. If you are unlucky, the computer will not restart or it will work particularly slowly and hang up regularly.

Your computer can get a virus from attachments in emails, downloads from the Internet, surfing the Internet or an infected USB stick. If you receive an email with a file attachment from an unknown sender, you should not open this email and delete it immediately! To protect your computer from viruses, there are special antivirus programs.

What is a computer worm?

The computer worm is also a virus, i.e. a small program that can damage your computer. It got the name “worm” because it can crawl like a real worm into the furthest corner of your PC. When you open the program in which the worm resides, it reproduces itself. In doing so, it produces copies on its own. As a result, your computer is so busy that you can no longer work with it yourself. It also spreads through e-mails and downloads, through surfing the Internet or through storage media such as USB sticks and memory cards. For example, if you have a worm on your computer, it can spread itself to your friends via email and harm their computers.

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What is a Trojan?

Have you ever heard of the “Trojan horse”? The ancient Greeks wanted to conquer the city of Troy. And because it wasn’t that easy, they had to come up with something. They built a big horse out of wood and hid their soldiers in it. The Trojans thought the horse was a parting gift from the Greeks and brought the horse to their city. During the night the soldiers came out of hiding, opened the city gates from the inside and conquered Troy. Trojan programs work in a similar way. They disguise themselves as small games or music. As soon as you open such a program, the Trojan starts. It collects your data (e.g. your passwords) and forwards it to the makers of the Trojan software. However, the Trojan can also erase your entire hard drive or ensure that unauthorized persons gain access to your computer. Unlike worms, however, Trojans cannot multiply by themselves.

What are bots and botnets?

A bot is software that can, so to speak, independently process repetitive tasks. There are good bots that perform important tasks for search engines. Bad bots, on the other hand, damage the infected computer. They are used to spy on many email addresses or passwords, for example. The computer becomes a zombie. A computer can be infected by surfing the Internet or by downloading and opening email attachments. If this malware is installed on your computer, it will try to infect other computers itself. Most users do not realize that their computer has been infected by a bot. Although the computer becomes a zombie, it otherwise functions normally for the user. Bots can do a lot of damage. 2/3 of all spam mails come from botnets.

Anti-virus software – why?

You need antivirus software, also known as a virus scanner, to protect your computer from computer viruses. It scans your computer for viruses and at the same time makes sure that no new virus can establish itself.

But be careful: You have to update your virus scanner regularly, i.e. start an update so that the latest viruses are also detected! If you want to be on the safe side, then you also need to keep your operating system up to date. To do this, you can activate “automatic updates” in the Windows Security Center. You can find the Security Center under Start > Program Access > Defaults.

What do I need a firewall for and how does it work?

A firewall guards the computer’s approximately 65,000 ports. Ports are the interfaces to the computer. All data entering or leaving the computer passes through these “doors”. Some data is allowed to go through certain ports, others should be forbidden so that no damage can be done. The firewall is a kind of bouncer for your PC.

The firewall protects against unauthorized third-party use, monitors data traffic and restricts network access according to defined rules. With current operating systems, e.g. B. Windows 10, a firewall is supplied that fulfills these basic functions. Many routers also have a firewall function and thus provide additional protection.

To be on the safe side, you should also install a full firewall software. You can download them for free on the internet.

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