What does it take to create your very own computer virus?

Back in the 80s when the PC was just starting to make its way into ordinary people’s homes, computer viruses were often mistaken as also the ones that make us sneeze or induce us to cough. Some were not even aware of its existence. If a program crashes due to a virus infection, many just thought that the software expired or just naturally got corrupted. Needless to say, antivirus programs were also not fashionable during the time when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were the reigning kings of the NBA.

Coke-Bottle Glasses a Prerequisite

Programmers or software authors were thought to be computer science majors or math geeks who have too much grudge on the world. Everything about the computer back then was esoteric. Many harbored the belief that one has to have an IQ of 500 in order to make one simple program. You might think that such a thought is an exaggeration, but in a way, they were partly right.

The programming language that software authors preferred at that time was the Assembly Language. Purists explain that it’s the language that computers speak since it mainly deals with numbers, the only characters that PCs understand. Only seasoned programmers could create applications using that language. This difficulty warded off many aspiring virus authors. While there are a significant number of people who wants to know what it’s like to wreak havoc to other people’s systems, only a few have the persistence and the talent to pursue such a pernicious goal.

Breeding Snakes

In a bid to spur interest in computer programming, software makers released programming languages that are more user-friendly. Since then, the number of persons who knows how to create applications has increased astronomically. While many of them are not that knowledgeable enough to create spyware, viruses, and other malicious applications, the few who does are enough to cause global headaches.

Most of the novices who attempt to create malicious applications end up seeing their creations crushed by antivirus and anti-spyware applications. Virus and spyware authors have to create a more cunning design in order to camouflage their malware from PC sentinels.

One Stop Shop

At present, one does not need to read programming books as thick as the white pages in order to create something that could make your hard drive spin like crazy. A programming kit is currently circulating around the Web that allows a person to exploit holes and weaknesses in Windows, WinZip, QuickTime, and Web pages. The destructive kit could easily be used by ordinary persons. Of course, this tool is not available on e-Bay or on any online store. It’s sold in cyberspace’s black market, with the price tag pegged at $400. The application works by identifying holes or weaknesses in Web sites. It then exploits gaps by allowing the user to control or take over the vulnerable pages. He could then modify the site so that it may control the PCs that log on or visit the page.

It would seem that every Web site could be a potential booby trap. Don’t allow your system to fall victim, or worse, be a host to malicious programs. Invest on an antivirus, registry cleaner, and other system tools. As the saying goes, a megabyte of prevention is better than a gigabyte of cure

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Don’t you just love the “undo” function or feature in some programs?

We’ve all been careless at some point when we were writing a report, filling the cells in a spreadsheet application, or writing a C or Visual Basic program. Committing a mistake or making a simple typographical error in Microsoft Word won’t spell disaster to your article. Just press Ctrl+Z to get your word processor do that back-to-the-future thing.

Committing a mistake in writing a news or feature article is not devastating. All you have to do is make the necessary changes. However, committing an error while editing or modifying a critical system file, such as the Windows registry, could have a drastic and irreversible consequence on your system.

Some people want to do things by themselves. For example, programmers would rather debug program themselves than delegate this task to an application that is specially made for that purpose. While a hands-on approach to PC problems is commendable, it is sometimes undesirable. Take, for example, the need to clean up the system registry. Those who know a lot about registries could do this with their eyes closed. However, as many PC users are not that knowledgeable or familiar with the intricacies of an OS or of the hardware itself, it is imperative that they leave these tasks to programs that are designed to handle these problems.

If you’re not that well-versed in PC operations or applications, don’t tinker with system files, especially with the Windows registry. Invest in system utilities, such as a registry cleaner. This would prevent you from causing havoc to your unit.

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