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COURSE NAME: INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS COURSE CODE: BEDM 207

ASSIGNMENT NO. e.g. 1 or 2: 1 DUE DATE: 09/09/2018

ASSIGNMENT TITLE: Discuss the various measures you would use to protect your computer
against viruses.

MARKER’S COMMENTS: ______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

OVERALL MARK: _____________ MARKER’S NAME: ________________________

MARKER’S SIGNATURE:_______________________________ DATE: ___________

In todays’ global village called the world , everyone uses computers to do almost
everything .Every Tom , Dick , and Harry is always online in search for
information , shopping , banking , kids with their homework or playing games and
also being in touch with family and friends .The outcome of all this is that our
computers contain almost everything about us though we know that our banking
details and other personal information that we need to protect .If your computer is
not protected , thieves and fraudsters can access your personal information and
steal it .Spammers can use your computer as a zombie to send spam that looks like
it was sent from you .Vicious spyware and dangerous viruses could be put in your
computer thus slowing it down thus destroying files.

One might ask , what is a virus?According to the ZOU module , page 167 , it says
a computer virus is a software programme that is written with malicious intent to
cause annoyance or damage .Shelly , Cashman and Vermaat (2000) defines a
computer virus as “a programme that copies itself into other programmes and
spreads through multiple computers often designed to damage a computer by
destroying or corrupting its data” .The computer virus dictionary at www.your
dictionary .com defines a computer virus as “ a small software program that can
spread from one comuter system to another and cause interferences with computer
operations “.this means that a computer virus has the power to disturb and delete
information on a computer.

A computer virus just like any virus has been made to spread and has the ability to
twin itself and spread from host to host .If it successfully attaches itself to a file or
document , it then lies dormant until it is conjucive to execute its code .For the
computer virus to work , the owner of the computer has to run the infected
programme .It can again use an email programme to spread to other computers , or
by using downloads on the internet .If you share computer resources such as floppy
disks you can get viruses on your computer

To secure your computer against viruses , a person or computer user must have a
backup copy of the information that is stored in a comuter.There are many storage
units that one can use as a secondary storage units,for example , magnetic tapes ,
floppy disks , flash disks and also memory cards . According to the ZOU module ,
Backups are a way of securing information , they are copies of all the important
computer files kept in another location .Files are kept on hard disks for example
CD-R’S , CD-RW’S AND TAPES.Location for backups should be fireproof ,
waterproof and heat proof safe.The files can also be placed not even close to where
the originals are kept for example a safe ,at a bank .using the internet , one can also
use “THE FILE HOSTING SERVICES”(ZOU module p165).

To protect your computer against viruses you have to turn on the firewall or to
install a firewall. A firewall is a type of software or hardware programme that
blocks the outsiders or the virus from entering your computer .The installer of the
virus dials or types randomly and wait for respondants from other computers .The
Firewall is used to prevent your computer from responding to these hackers.it is
used to also to block unpermitted sources who communicate with you especially in
the presence of free wifi or a high speed internet system .Nowadays some
operating systems have have built in firewalls that a person can use even in the
absence of the internet . For the firewall to be highly effective , it must be installed
properly and updated regularly

Another effective way of protecting ones computer is by setting up a very strong

password and keeping the password a secret . The password should be hard to
guess , not setting up dates of birth as passwords because one can easily guess it .
A strong password with maybe a combination of letters and numbers . The user
can have a phrase that will help in remembering the password , for example
MMSI#MD ,MY MAIDAN SURNAMES IS #MPOFU DUBE.

Around the world people are too busy to the extent of shopping online .When
online shopping , check the website before entering your personal and banking
details . Check out the privacy policy and be quick to opt out if you are requested
to share information, also if they don’t display privacy policy get out and choose
another cite and do your shopping there . If you are using your computer learn how
to tell of insecure websites .Another option is to check for an unlocked padlock
icon , it shows you that your personal information will be protected through
encryption so that any viruses would not affect you .Encryption is when you
scramble your information or document so that people who don’t have the right
decryption key cannot read it .Kangayi , C.V (2016,166) says “cryptographic
techniques involve transforming information ,scrambling it so it becomes
unreadable during transmission ”.The rightful person can read the document and
vise versa .To protect the information from wrong eyes is called Encryption
.According to Kangayi , C.V 2016 , “crypographically secure ciphers are designed
to make any practical attempt of breaking infeasible , symmetric key ciphers are
suitable for bulk encryption using shared keys and public –key encryption using
digital certificates which is a practical solution when comes to security.

Another measure that can be used to secure a computer against viruses is the use of
access authentication .This means that ,if you don’t have the authority you have no
access to the information until you get the authority to do .This makes sure that
those who have access to information have the authorization to do so .it also makes
sure they are restrictions in accessing the computer at once or as a group of users
through the same authentication systems .The system of authentication is in two
ways.Kangai , C.V (2016 , 166) Says “these systems can either protect the whole
computer –such as through an interactive logon screen or individual services such
as an FTP server.In the cyber community they are numerous ways in which one
can identify and authenticate users of a computer .It can be with the use of
passwords , identification cards , smart cards , biometric systems .The biometric
system is a system that identifies using the finger print , voice and also your breath.

The intrusion detection system of software is another method of securing your

computer against people who are acting suspiciously .It scans a network for the
people who are online but who should not be there or are doing suspiciously for
example trying different passwords to access the network , computer or phone and
after that the phone will block the access of that person .

Computers are protected in many ways ,another way is getting a computer

application called an anti-virus .This you can get for free or you can pay for.

it ,but if you have intensions of getting the best , pay for it .Since we now know ,
anti-virus software because it protects your computer from virus breeds that can
destroy your data or even crash your computer .This antivirus software will scan
your computer with intensions of identifying viruses , once it finds them, it deletes
them .It should be kept updated so that it copes with the latest viruses .Most
antivirus software programs give off real time protection meaning that it protects
your computer all the time .It alerts you whenever there is a program that is trying
to access your computer and can deny or accept the access .According to Hagg ,
Cummings and McCubbery (2003) antivirus can be installed in order to destroy :

 Viruses on removable media like floppy disks , CDs or hard disks.

 Trojan horse viruses (viruses hiding inside good software)and back door
viruses (viruses that open a way into the network for future attacks.
 Polymorphic viruses and worms that change their form as they propagate.
 Viruses in files.
 Viruses in e-mails ”.

Sharing of digital files such as photos, music and software .File sharing enables
other gadgets and computers to access your computer thus posing risk to your
computer and also giving access to your files ,so avoiding sharing is the best way
to secure your computer from viruses.Refraining from downloading rogue virus
alerts .Rogue virus alerts are a software program that gives false alerts and make
you think that your computer was infected buy a virus and making you to
download or buy a viral removal software or product for example Shield security ,
Fixer or anti-virus.

In conclusion , there are a lot of viruses and malicious soft and hardware that
destroy our computers and as we speak more are coming up .To overcome this ,
security measures have to be taken to protect our valuable documents from being
tampered with by unauthorized , un trustworthy people. With the identification of
threats that face our digital life now we have the ammunition to combard and
protect our data and information.
REFERENCES

1. Hagg , S , Cummings , M , McCubbery , D , (2003) Management

information Systems for the Information age (3rd)New Dheli :Tata Mcgraw-
hill Publishing Company limited.
2. Neumann , P , G , (1997)”Computer security in aviation” White house
commission on safety and security.
3. Pfaffenberger , B ,William , D (2004)Computers in your future , Upper
Saddle river , NEW JERSEY: Prentice hall , inc.
4. Helly, G, Cashman ,T and Waggoner G , (1990) , Computer conceptsU.S.A.
Boyd and Fraser Publishing Company.
5. Zellan , J(2003) Aviation security , Haupaugge , NY:Nova science , pp 65-
70.
6. www.dictionary.com.