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was released as a joke, it was a malicious program that disrupted game software to which it was attached. One of the first viruses to affect personal computers (PC) was "Brain", created by Basit and Amjad Farooq Alvi in Lahore, Pakistan. "Brain" disrupted the boot sector of floppy disks and displayed a message giving contact information in Pakistan where one could pay to receive a program to remove the virus.

Worm - A worm is a self-replicating program that sends copies of itself to other nodes in the network. Unlike computer viruses, a worn does not need to attach itself to another program or application to spread. One of the first computer worms to spread by the Internet was the "Morris Worm" created by Robert Morris at Cornell University and released onto the Internet on 2 November 1988. The worm continually replicated itself, often infecting a single computer multiple times, slowing the system down and consuming bandwidth and system resources.

Trojan Horse - A Trojan horse is a program that contains a separate hidden program or function that installs a program onto your computer, without the knowledge or intent of the operator. An example of a Trojan horse would be a game which you want to install on your computer, which hides a separate program to copy your address book and e-mail a message to everyone contained therein.

Computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses all have a potentially critical affect on any computer or network they infect. Protecting yourself from these threats requires that you install that latest version of a quality anti-virus program, and that thereafter you keep the program updated. There are various anti-virus programs available, and which one you use is somewhat a matter of personal preference. My personal preference is for Symantec Corporation's Norton Anti-Virus (http://www.symantec.com/home_ homeoffice/products/index.jsp) , which I believe to be the best anti-virus currently available. Another major anti-virus program is provided by McAfee Corporation (http://us.mcafee.com/root/sto re.asp). If you are strapped for cash you can still get anti-virus protection by downloading a freeware anti-virus program from AVG Anti-Virus (http://www.grisoft.com/doc/pr oducts-avg-anti-virus-free-edi tion/ww/crp/0). Microsoft Corporation also offers a free on-line scan at: http://www.microsoft.com/athom e/security/default.mspx. Another source for a free on-line scan of your system and the purchase of anti-virus software is from "Stop Sign" and http://www.stop-sign.com/.

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