Originally posted by Jon_K
at least computer viruses do little/no damage. Yet spyware makes your computer as slow as a damn snail. [/B]
OMFG......
Viruses do a LOT of Damage. Heres some that took out hundreds of cumputers.
CHI virus or "Chernobyl" was the most damaging virus acording to the Guiness book of world records 2002. i know it is not current but here is what it says:
Most Damaging Virus The CHI Virus or "Chernobyl" virus affected one million PCs since it was first triggered on April 26,1998, the 12th anniversary of the nuclear reactor disaster in Chernobyl, USSR. According to the Taipei authorities, the virus was writen by Chen Ing-Hau,whose initials make up the name of the virus. CHI irreversibly alters a computer's BIOS chip, which is soldered on to the motherboard. The damage can make a computer totaly useless.
ILoveyou- This was a very very bad virus that hit. It is the most widespread virus:
Lovesick computers The virulent "I Love You" computer virus was the most widespread the world has ever known. It was first detected in Hong Kong in May 1, 2000. Within four days it had mutated into three diffrent generations. The Love Bug combined sophisticated programing with a cunning apeal to the humman psyche. When users opened the "I love you" attachment, the virus was instantly forwarded to all the addresses in the victim's e-mail directory. Governments,buisnesses were all affected. At its height, the virus forced the closure of the White House and the U.S. State Department e-mail networks. Figures published on May 8, 2000 by Trend Micro Inc. Showed that "I Love You" had infected 3.1 million computers worldwide.
This is what the Lovebug ("I Love you") dose:
Payload Trigger: On execution of email attachment
Payload: Overwriting files
Large scale e-mailing: Sends itself to all addresses in the Microsoft Outlook Address Book
Modifies files: Overwrites files with the following extensions: .vbs, .vbe, .js, .jse, .css, .wsh, .sct, .hta, .jpg, .jpeg, .wav, .txt, .gif, .doc, .htm, .html, .xls, .ini, .bat, .com, .mp3, and .mp2. Files with extensions of .mp2 and .mp3 will be hidden from the user by setting the hidden directory attribute. The overwritten files can be recovered if the user is running NProtect from Norton Systemworks or Norton Utilities at the time of infection. Variant G also overwrites .bat and .com files.
Degrades performance: Might clog the email server
W32.Blaster.Worm-
W32.Blaster.Worm is a worm that exploits the DCOM RPC vulnerability (described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-026) using TCP port 135. The worm targets only Windows 2000 and Windows XP machines. While Windows NT and Windows 2003 Server machines are vulnerable to the aforementioned exploit (if not properly patched), the worm is not coded to replicate to those systems. This worm attempts to download the msblast.exe file to the %WinDir%\system32 directory and then execute it. W32.Blaster.Worm does not have a mass-mailing functionality.
This is what damage it dose:
Damage
Payload Trigger: If the date is the 16th of the month until the end of that month if it's before August, and every day from August 16 until December 31.
Payload: Performs Denial of Service against windowsupdate.com
Causes system instability: May cause machines to crash.
Compromises security settings: Opens a hidden remote cmd.exe
This virus is still very wild. Symantec rates its wild as "high"
So as you can see you rather have spyware than a virus
If you have lots of spyware go to
download.com and download Lava Soft Adaware.