CIH (computer virus) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One of the most deadly computer viruses ever created. It destroys data on the hard drive, and in many cases corrupts the BIOS, rendering the system completely inoperable. I was one of the many victims of the CIH (Chernobyl) virus when it made its "debut" on April 26th 1999. I'll never forget that day.

Oops, forgot to answer this last night. Though I haven't kept up on the latest virus news, I do know there have been cases where some of them start either duplicating or eating files on your HD. Some can lock you out from using your drive completely or even booting up.

Some of the worst cases I've heard of, one in particular from a close chat friend from Australia, was a case of total identity theft. There are actually bots written that can do that too. He had to change all his accounts and start from scratch. Once something like that happens it changes the way you think about computers for life.

He is now armed with a myriad of security software piggy backed on top of one other, many of which I've never heard of. I tried to tell him in security software sometimes more is less, but he insists on going overkill after that traumatic experience.

I suppose in a way it is better to risk conflicts between security progs than risk having ones that will let something slip by, but I'd only recommend it in extreme cases.

Most modern viruses are designed to take control of your computer and use it as a spam bot. Destructive viruses are more and more becoming a thing of the past.

Either that.. or they just get into your computer by an open port and install a keylogger. They wait and when you get on Paypal or something.. boom they see your password.
fortunately, most anti-virus detects Keyloggers and they aren't too hard to remove.

Seriously,do this guys have a life ?
What drives them to make viruses(which were in the past) to totally mess up your computer and even eats all data ? Do they have some benefit out of it ?
Except for admireing their sick acomplishment,that they made something lethal for PC.Sick bastards.

Chen Ing Hau should have been killed.

Well there may not be as many destructive viruses but those aimed at identify theft can destroy much more than just your PC.

There's money to be made. Both from stealing credit card and financial information, and through spamming.

Thanks for the info.

Now,this Trojan Downloaders and other Trojans,what exactly is their effect once they manage to get onto our computers ?

Yea.. 'Hackers' aren't stupid.. They don't spend their time making viruses just to destroy computers. They find ways to make money..

As the name implies (named after the famous Trojan horse that was used to invade the city of Troy) their job is to tear a hole in your computers security, and allow other malware to get in your computer.