Computer Worm – How to Safeguard Your PC from Internet Worms?

November 2, 1988 made it big in the news – something was wreaking havoc across the internet. A graduate student at the Cornell University wrote and launched the first computer worm over the internet. Though the intent behind creating this program was to gauge the size of the internet, things turned out to be a little messier causing a damage of $100,000–10,000,000 as claimed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

This was how the first computer worm came into existence. But what is a computer worm by the way? Let’s take a look:

What is a Computer Worm?

Basically, it is a standalone malware application that spreads itself from one user machine to the other. It exploits the vulnerabilities present in the Operating System and causes harm to the user by stealing data, modifying data or deleting files. Worms are also used to take over computer systems, making them zombie computers or botnets. Such computer systems are remotely controlled by hackers and are then used for malicious purposes like sending spam emails and making DDoS attacks.

Worm Removal – How to Stay Safe from Worms?

First of all,  you need to see if there is something unusual happening on your computer system. If it is running extremely slow, or some files that you have stored are missing or your email system is automatically sending some spam messages, then chances are that there’s a worm on your computer system.

One of the quickest ways to stop working of the worm is to get disconnected from the internet. This way you can at least stop it for a while.

However, before you do the first step, it is important to download a reliable antivirus program on your computer. The next action to be taken is to open your antivirus program and run it for a scan. This may take a few minutes as the antivirus will thoroughly scan your system including all files and folders to see if there’s a malicious app residing. Once it detects the worm, it will automatically quarantine it to ensure the safety of your device.

Apart from this, make sure you update your security antivirus on regular basis. Further, you need to think twice before clicking any email attachments and suspicious links that come from unknown senders. Likewise, you need to be extremely careful when downloading files from the internet as doing the same from unknown sources might cause more harm than doing any good to you.