# Computer viruses I understand. Please explain "trojans" and "worms" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-viruses-i-understand-please-explain-trojans-and-worms/236237 "2004-03-25T00:50:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-viruses-i-understand-please-explain-trojans-and-worms/236237/21 "2004-03-25T18:49:11Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I know people who have had to clean up huge networks after Blaster-class infections. No antivirus software stopped the virus in time or assisted in the cleanup! It was disconnect all machines, clean them all up one at a time (frequently doing a reformat and reinstall!), etc. Of course, since you hold a PhD in Computer Science and have published 40 research papers, you know that the Blaster worm was pretty unique in that it did not spread via email. The fact that one virus and a small group variants evade conventional virus protection in no way invalidates virus protection programs that are effective against over 100,000 other email-borne viruses in the wild today. The fact is that resident anti-virus programs, while not perfect, stop hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of virus laden emails every day. If computer academics such as yourself think that telling people to just be more careful is going to be an improvement over resident AV programs, you are sadly misguided regarding the intelligence of the average computer user. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-viruses-i-understand-please-explain-trojans-and-worms/236237/22 "2004-03-25T21:55:37Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > If computer academics such as yourself think that telling people to just be more careful is going to be an improvement over resident AV programs, you are sadly misguided regarding the intelligence of the average computer user. I don’t think **ftg** is saying that at all. He was responding the **RealityChuck** ’s comment that “There is no excuse for not having antivirus software running on your Windows PC.” Nobody’s saying that TSR anti-virus scanners aren’t useful for naive users – just that once you have a basic understanding of network security, resident scanning utilities present more problems that added security. By the time definitions are included for new threats, your average nerd has already read the security bulletins. I don’t keep a virus scanner running in the background on my system, either-- because it would be totally redundant in combination with security measures already in place, and I’d rather have the free resources and absence of conflicts with other software. I open a scanner and manually check any file that I have reason to be suspicious of, and don’t use software with notoriously lax security. If an executable runs on my system, you can be sure that I’m confident it’s benign and _want_ it to run. Having a virus scanner running 24/7 would be a waste of cycles, period. At the same time, I usually make sure that friends and acquaintances that I find myself (as designated nerd) giving IT support to have background virus scanners installed – even when they have less resources to spare than I do. It’s just easier than trying to give them a crash course in network security and asking them to stay up to date on the latest threats. Hell, I have one friend who’s running Norton AV 2004 on a _Pentium 133_. Their computer runs noticeably slower _all the time_ and they have to disable it temporarily to get some things to work at all, but the security it provides, (while not being effective as wetware-based paranoia,) is well worth it. For them. Someone who reads the latest security bulletins, uses relatively secure software, and has no resident AVP is much better protected than someone who installs anti-virus software and thinks no more about it. And someone who installs anti-virus software and thinks no more about it (providing it downloads new definitions automatically) is better protected than someone who takes no precautions at all. No need to argue about it. 🙂 Happy, happy, joy, joy! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-viruses-i-understand-please-explain-trojans-and-worms/236237.md?page=1)