Viruses

Essay by Stephen ElaschukJunior High, 7th gradeA-, December 1992

download word file, 3 pages 4.1

It is morning. You awaken to the sweet smell of flowers and the sound of birds chirping. You turn on your new I B M compatible computer only to find that every bit and byte of information has been erased. A computer virus has struck.

Yes, these small bits of computer code have slowly overtaken the world of computing. A computer virus is a small program that attaches itself to disks and computer systems with instructions to do something abnormal. Sometimes the effects of a computer virus can be harmless. Sometimes the effects of a computer virus can be disastrous. But whichever way you look at it they still cause problems. There are many kinds of computer viruses. Three of the most common are the time bomb, the logic bomb and the Trojan horse. The time bomb is a virus triggered by the computers clock reaching a certain date and time (often Friday the thirteenth).

The logic bomb is a virus triggered by a certain value appearing a certain part of the computers memory, either relevant to the viruses purposes or at random. The Trojan horse is an innocent seeming program deliberately infects with a virus and circulated publicly. There is a cure for these viruses, though. These 'cures' are called vaccines. A vaccine is a program that watches for typical things viruses do, halts them, and warns the computer operator.

'Put a kid with the chicken pox together with a bunch of healthy kids and not all of them will get sick.' But that is not the case with computer viruses. You see when a computer virus passes on a virus it never fails unless the computer is protected with a vaccine. A typical computer virus spreads faster than the chicken pox too. Now as I said before when...