Chapter 9. Virus Protection

It's an unfortunate truth that your computer is always under attack from individuals who wish to damage your hardware, corrupt your software, and delete your files.

During the 1970s, the term hacker was a positive one, referring to someone who enjoyed tweaking and modifying hardware and software to do interesting (and legal) things. By the 1980s, however, the meaning of hacker changed to refer to someone who uses a computer's hardware and software to perform malicious activities.

Of all the methods used by these bad guys, none has been worse than the digital computer virus. Like a biological virus, a computer virus spreads through contact, can cause damage (but not always), and can be difficult to remove. The first known ...

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