how do I get help with blogger? How do I copy and paste from my word processing program (or from where I posted the info elsewhere.)
I have seen some users mentioned that they are considering issues into the edit window after the paste. I do not know Blogger changes in mechanism to prevent accidental paste from Word (or another word processing program), or just a small fault, but the fact is, please do not paste from Word into Blogger. There is a hidden conflict in a lot of encoding formats and Blogger, I've seen this lead to blog full lock or disable the display of any job.
blogging, blogger,blogspot,make money from blog
If you need to write your posts offline First, using a simple Notepad text editor paste using the keyboard to control C and Control V key only the text. To do any format you want to do after you use the Blogger interface, tools.Please the error code.
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blogging, blogger,blogspot,make money from blog
jstngav5
Level 4
9/23/09
report it here...https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pDGYK68-cO4sA0J2wa9fYBQ
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mmne
Level 1
4:36 PM
The error code is java.net.ConnectException: Connection timed out.
I've found a couple of threads relating to it but none of them seems to give the solution (or at least not in a form of English I can understand as I'm not very techie).
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All About Blogger - Blogger Templates, Blogger Tutorials and More
Start your own Blogger blog. To create and edit your Blogger blog with Blogger tutorials. Make you look better with your Blogger blog, Blogger template. Add to my photos to your Blogger blog.
Blogger Templates (6)
Tagging Blog Posts and Photos
Tagging is, simply put, keywords help the search function of the site find blog posts or photos. When you add labels to something trying to find words or phrases that describe this thing or that people use while searching for this thing.
Add Your Blogger Blog to Your Wikispaces Wiki
Wikispaces to your Internet experience for Blogger to create a blog, right into the whole wiki. You Wikispaces wiki, add it to your Blogger blog, wiki to create a community of readers and look at the people behind the. You can put together your Wikispaces Blogger has a great personal Web blog is to create a wiki site.
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Add Blogger Templates to your Blogger Blog
Add a cool Blogger templates for your Blogger blog. Let your Blogger blog look better, it increases the cooling Blogger template. Your new Blogger template for your Blogger blog will change the color, layout, pictures, and so forth.
Put Your Blogger Blog on Your Web Site
If you have a Web site and you have a blog on Blogger you can combine the two. This saves you from having people leave your Web site to read your blog and then not come back again.
Using Pics Hosted Elsewhere on Blogger
When you create a Blogger blog and you want to add photos you can link to photos you've stored on another site.
Add Images To Blogger Blogs From Your Computer
To add photos to a Blogger blog readers, do not want the trouble to upload the first. How quickly here, Blogger on the right of the blog, you can add photos from the pages of the new entry.
Blogger, Beyond the Basics - Book Review
Blogging with Blogger can be a little confusing at the beginning blogger. I mean, you just write a blog and all, but if you really want to get into the design of the blog, the heart and soul, then you'll need some help. That's where blogger, Beyond the Basics
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Posted in: java tutorial| Tags: word program blogger window paste mechanism processing info fault accidentalGoogle Adwords - the Basics Behind This PPC Advertising Program and How you Can Get Inexpensive, Targeted Traffic
Google Adwords is by far the most popular PPC advertising platform on the Internet. The reasons are simple: a well-designed user interface, a large number and variety of publishers, display the ads, and above all a long history of positive ROI for advertisers. Adwords can be intimidating and new users, but it's really not very difficult, the skills you need to learn how to get started.
This article is meant to be a basic introduction to Adwords. So if you are already very familiar with it, this might be review. The first problem most people have with Adwords is setting to and sticking with a budget. Most people get frustrated because they haven't bid enough for their clicks, resulting in their ads having a low position. After a couple days of poor results, most new advertisers quickly increase their bids and the results is a pile of expensive traffic that brings back little, if any, return. When you make your Adwords account, set a small budget. Use keyword tools (many of which are available on the links page of this website) to determine which searches are most popular and try to find searches that other advertisers haven't thought of. This is the best way of getting cheap traffic to your website(s), since less competition means lower cost per click.
However, cheap traffic is not necessarily good traffic. Let me repeat that again, just because you are getting cheap clicks from Adwords does not mean you are using your advertising dollars effectively. Targeted traffic is the key. If your website is selling software tutorials and you bid on phrases such as “free software” or “download photoshop” you might very well get many, many visitors (very inexpensively), but I can guarantee that your conversion rate (sales/visitor) will be horrible. Even key phrases like “free tutorials” will fail to create a positive return. Generally, never use the word “free” in your ads, unless you are actually giving something away for free. Users will click, costing you money, but are almost never interested in shelling out cash for a product.
Conversely, if you use the words "buy" or "buy" key phrases will reduce the number of clicks you receive, but certainly will increase the conversion rate and return on investment. Let us go back to my earlier example, the key phrases in the tender, such as "buy website making tutorial" or "Professional Photoshop Tutorial", allowing you to purchase your product sales and are willing to spend money, if your product meets their needs a sense of Interested visitors. I have AdWords, article, I will discuss strategies in order to write high-quality ads to help improve your click-through rate and conversions through.
Free Software Design Website
Attractive but expensive specialized, making it valuable to design a website to consider using a free web site design software is readily available. The following article explores the possibility of designing your own website to consider why.
In this day and age, please have all their own corporate website. Companies with a website, to notify customers of important changes to business support and can help to attract new customers.
Individuals also have their own Web sites is becoming increasingly aware of the interest, whether it is after the family or friends, or to display their talent to share their photos posted works or works.
Beginner web designers would do well with Web Plus, A free website design program. It is readily available online.
An alternative brand of software is Nvu. It can also be obtained free of cost and is compatible with both Windows and Microsoft operating systems. Nvu also does not require any knowledge of HTML code, making it suitable for beginners as well. The program even provides ready-made templates and some generic images, and users can design an entire website using just the tools included in the program.
Most website designers are of the opinion that Dreamweaver and FrontPage are the best software to use in designing a website.
Dreamweaver is an Adobe Product and although it's one of the most detailed and well-resourced web design software programs, it comes at a steep cost.
The same is true of FrontPage which is part of the Microsoft series of products. Another drawback, beyond the cost of these products is that require the user to know advanced HTML.
With so many free options available web design software, a beginner really needs to pay to acquire the necessary software to design a website. Websites can be designed easily using
free software and they can be made to look professionally done as well.
As long as personal use of free web design software, understanding of basic computer commands and taking note of their time to choose a template, colors and fonts, they can create a great looking website, the next day.
Almost all the free programs that are available come with an interactive tutorial that allows the user the opportunity to see how the software in order to be able to create their own personal website in no time at all.
Unless you have extensive experience in HTML is no justification for an expensive web design programs of trouble. There are many free web site authoring software options available in the click of a mouse. You can download one and the final design of your site.
Free Absolute Poker Download
Download the program for the novice poker absolute, without necessarily spending a lot of money, to learn the game of poker is the ideal way and the new players. This is a direct, free software can be downloaded from websites or other affiliated sites absolute poker.
Basically, the absolute download poker software, players can connect with other players from different parts of the world. Download program data only, and is at least 20 megabytes of CD - ROM that can be stored or small size of USB disk. The program is installed, it integrates the Internet network itself or laptop personal computer.
Download Absolute Poker offers many other programs, such as free online tutorials, game preview, updates and other features included. Used by millions of people is one of the best features of online poker chat. This is useful, because many of the older players and experts in trade, methods and other strategies with other players. It is with the experts can easily share their valuable experiences and lessons that can guide them to a successful mix of direct way.
The absolute poker download system is very easy to follow. Not only is it free but can also be updated without additional fees. The only payment that is required is when the player engages in a real poker tournament with real money. Betting online is very accessible. The player would need to input his account number form into his online bank, which would confirm his username and password. The valid and up-to-date identification cards should be presented through fax or e-mail to validate the age of the player. The online bank transaction with the poker company is safe and secure since the system is encrypted by several highly complex passwords. Once all of these processes have been completed, the player could now play in a tournament using his real money.
The latest update with the download system is playing through cell phone or other mobile handheld device. High-end cell phones with Internet connection or mobile broadband could avail of this service and play online poker tournaments without significant disruptions and problems. This is because the absolute poker website has been modified to be viewed using any devices since the graphics and Java players used are also available in any formats. This has tremendously increased the client and consumer base availing of the free download system. In fact, there are at least a million registered players, chatters and surfers who have signed up with the different online programs of the absolute poker download system.
Absolute Poker Download, a real change in people playing poker, because it adds a new and innovative features, anyone can enjoy tons. Has established with other reputable poker gaming site belongs to expand the network, which means that there is more bitter fight opponents. Absolute poker download system, players can enjoy the comfort of your own home poker.
Five Reasons Why Most Affiliate Marketers are not Successful
If you want to make money with affiliate programs, you should stop listening to the people behind these programs.
That may sound crazy, but I have good reason for saying that. Most affiliate marketers wind up doing the following and failing miserably.
- They look at a sales page and think it looks pretty good.
- They decide to go for it and sign up.
- They find pre-made ads, direct them to the web page of the affiliate website, they next do submissions to safelists, then send promotions to their own lists, then they use some hit exchanges or other forms of free advertisement.
- This results in zero sales, they decide to ditch the program, and go find another one, saying to themselves “well, that was a waste of time, that product stinks”
- They start all over again doing the same thing, with the next affiliate program claiming to be the next best sure winner according to the sales copy.
Whether any of this sound familiar? If you are not, is not only one. The sad fact is no more than 5% of all their efforts to manage more than 25.00 dollars.
So, what is the answer?
1. Start by clicking on Commission Junction, LinkShare, Clickbank, etc., and try some in depth research in a niche market that you know something about or have an interest in. You do not have in love with the product, but if you believe it is easier to someone to convince that it is a good product.
2. Take a good look at the product conversion rate, make sure it is high. Commission Junction provide you with a report for the last three months and the last seven days of earnings per click. This is to pay a big help in choosing the best product.
3. Make use of a software known as the Product Idea Profitability Evaluator. This is a great tool to figure out profitability of a product. You can eliminate many niches that you think would be profitable with this software.? It will assess keywords, and profitability potential. It will also give you important information to determine profitability based on pay per click. You can use it for free for 10 days.
Four. To determine the next domain name (Go Daddy) to buy to get the reliable hosting companies (Hostgator for me) must be used. You can get free hosting is not recommended. To encounter such cases, a free hosting company is to destroy the image experts. Ads placed on your website would look like a billboard on his site. In any web business is very focused on building trust and confidence.
5. If you don’t know how to build a website, there are many tutorials online, many in video format. Or if you have the money, hire a web designer to do the work for you. Do a Google search for website tutorials or html tutorials. Make sure you build a site with lots of good content, not something that is just full of product hype.
Six. Next, you need to advertise your website. In order to promote a website, there are many ways. The promotion of the site you can search Google shows you the results of millions of people. The promotion of good ideas in the direction you want to go first please look at the 5-10.
7. If you really want to get a lot of traffic, to establish their own good link directories. In this way, search engines will pick up your site if your content is very good. Make sure you are using a lot of site content related to keywords, so that they can pick up a web spiders, you will get search engines on the freedom of a lot of promotion. This is called search engine optimization
8. Remember these steps and repeat them for every new affiliate product you want to promote.
Posted in: html tutorial| Tags: page product sign program money reason commission affiliate junction following
Do Not Skimp On The Basics
The most basic skills you need for an online web presence, an understanding HyperText Markup Language (HTML). This is the standard code used to create static Web pages (those that do not have content that changes
If you are the least bit technically savvy, you won't have much problem picking up HTML programming, particularly because most of today's packages don't require you to know the ins and outs of programming.
Software packages like Frontpage and Dreamweaver can be learned by anyone who is familiar with Windows and other computer applications. Much of the programming is done behind the scenes while the user is only required to work on documents similar to a word processor for formatting web page articles.
If you are seeking to build a web site on-line store, then you need to know how you can link the program has lists (affiliate marketing) or a product, you transport links to other sites products. You will need to use some commercial online shopping cart program to sort, like the Paypal online shopping cart option or a ready-made, ready-made packages, you can add to your site, if you are selling your own inventory.
NECESSARY TECHNICAL SKILLS
The skills and packages you need will be determined by the types of sales you are trying to achieve. If you are seeking affiliate sales, you don't need any technical training other HTML.
If you are seeking to sell your own products, you will have to learn how to create a shopping cart for your products or find a third-party venue who will allow you the use of their system for receiving orders online and collecting payments.
Of course if you are marketing just one product to start with, www.PayPal.com can be a good way to take payment without have to go to the expense of getting a merchant bank account set up or an Internet gateway to authorize credit cards.
Once you know what it is you want to sell, you can check to see what technical skills might be needed to create your online store.
DIRECT INTERNET SALES
There are many people who love or create their own craft who want to sell online. Or, perhaps, you are a collector who is willing to put your online business. For these people the greatest obstacle is that they often do not have the technical skills to make their own websites. They have two choices: 1. Using someone else's site, so that they can reduce or two. Learn how to build their own websites.
If they choose to use someone else's site, like eBay or a trade consortium, no doubt, they will pay to list their products. These articles can not sell. There was no cost to learning how to program, it is time to understand how to market successfully on eBay. There are no online options, which do not require a degree of technical know-how. The question is: How much do you want to learn?
If you decide you want your own site, you will need to either hire a web developer or you will have to learn how to program your own. Learning to program your own site can be very time consuming, if you are not technically savvy.
Even understanding the mechanics of how to program a website, there is a body of knowledge you will not have access to in terms of understanding how to make it search engine friendly.
There is a great deal to setting up an effective online store, not the least of which is attracting customers and being able to take orders, receive payment, and fulfill them quickly. In addition to this, without visitors to the site you have no sales, so if your pages are not programmed to be search engine friendly, odds are you will have difficulty attracting people to your site.
When you are considering doing your own site, think about hiring knowledgeable people to create it for you. This can leave more time for you to refine your marketing plan and develop your product and your market base better.
However if you use a third party to determine your goods, such as eBay, Amazon and Cafepress market, then you do not have to build a shopping cart checkout troubles, setting up loan payments, or a full e-commerce website. You can simply use the interface and your products with them. This happens less original programming efforts, but you will be charged listing and commissions.
You must have some knowledge of digital photography to help you capture the list is a listing of third-party web site visitors. You need to have at least 3 megapixels or more of the uploading and downloading pictures to your computer's capacity, which should be the Internet camera.
A final option for listing your own products on your own site is Paypal. They offer a very simple to learn system for sellers using their checkout cart program and "Buy" buttons that are easily programmed into web pages using HTML code. The code is generated by their system based on values you set for your item and it can then be cut and pasted into your existing web pages. This makes it very easy to set up your pages to collect Paypal payments for orders on your site with only knowledge of HTML coding.
So don't let the technical issues of starting an Internet Marketing business make you shy away from what can turn into a very lucrative business venture.
Computer Certified
As an IT professional certification is to increase employment opportunities for promotion or approach. If you have been working, although you may not have time in the regular classes for your schedule, especially in the school is located some distance. Like Linux, the network of training and Java certification procedures are likely to make you get an extra niche by working in their own homes at their own pace without the trouble of traveling.
Students who would like to enroll in online programs must have a basic understanding of operating a computer, word processing skills, spread sheets and database know-how. You must also have knowledge of accessing the internet and communicating through e-mails. You will have to be in front of a computer and read volumes of materials on a certain subject. If you are one of those people who have difficulty focusing on printed materials, you would do well in a classroom setting rather than an online certification training program.
Under Instructor-Led Training Online Certification gives you the advantage of a schedule and in a position to the course at a given time to finish. If you think you are in the position, time limits, while the research itself, then you will be in this type of program a success. But there are some students who have a less stressful way of education and would rather opt for setting their own pace. If you are not sure of your schedule and wants to study only if you can, then this is the tkind program is best for you.
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As a theory, to master science and technology, online certification training course has its place, but really there are some types of hands, accompanied by pairs of IT experience, so as to give you, as a qualified IT professionals the best opportunity.
Computer Virus
In 1983, Fred Cohen coined the term
Using the above explanation, it can be said that viruses infect program files. However, viruses can also infect certain types of data files, specifically those types of data files that support executable content, for example, files created in Microsoft Office programs that rely on macros.
Compounding the definition difficulty, viruses also exist that demonstrate a similar ability to infect data files that don't typically support executable content - for example, Adobe PDF files, widely used for document sharing, and .JPG image files. However, in both cases, the respective virus has a dependency on an outside executable and thus neither virus can be considered more than a simple ‘proof of concept’. In other cases, the data files themselves may not be infectable, but can allow for the introduction of viral code. Specifically, vulnerabilities in certain products can allow data files to be manipulated in such a way that it will cause the host program to become unstable, after which malicious code can be introduced to the system. These examples are given simply to note that viruses no longer relegate themselves to simply infecting program files, as was the case when Mr. Cohen first defined the term. Thus, to simplify and modernize, it can be safely stated that a virus infects other files, whether program or data.
Computer viruses are called viruses because they share some of the traits of biological viruses. A computer virus passes from computer to computer like a biological virus passes from person to person.
There are similarities at a deeper level, as well. A biological virus is not a living thing. A virus is a fragment of DNA inside a protective jacket. Unlike a cell, a virus has no way to do anything or to reproduce by itself -- it is not alive. Instead, a biological virus must inject its DNA into a cell. The viral DNA then uses the cell's existing machinery to reproduce itself. In some cases, the cell fills with new viral particles until it bursts, releasing the virus. In other cases, the new virus particles bud off the cell one at a time, and the cell remains alive.
A computer virus shares some of these traits. A computer virus must piggyback on top of some other program or document in order to get executed. Once it is running, it is then able to infect other programs or documents. Obviously, the analogy between computer and biological viruses stretches things a bit, but there are enough similarities that the name sticks.
A computer virus is a program that replicates. To do so, it needs to attach itself to other program files (for example, .exe, .com, .dll) and execute whenever the host program executes. Beyond simple replication, a virus almost always seeks to fulfill another purpose: to cause damage.
Called the damage routine, or payload, the destructive portion of a virus can range from overwriting critical information kept on the hard disk's partition table to scrambling the numbers in the spreadsheets to just taunting the user with sounds, pictures, or obnoxious effects.
It’s worth bearing in mind, however, that even without a ”damage routine”, if viruses are allowed to run unabated then it will continue to propagate--consuming system memory, disk space, slowing network traffic and generally degrading performance. Besides, virus code is often buggy and can also be the source of mysterious system problems that take weeks to understand. So, whether a virus is harmful or not, its presence on the system can lead to instability and should not be tolerated.
Some viruses, in conjunction with "logic bombs," do not make their presence known for months. Instead of causing damage right away, these viruses do nothing but replicate--until the preordained trigger day or event when they unleash their damage routines on the host system or across a network.
Impact of Viruses on Computer Systems
Virus can be reprogrammed to do many kinds of harm including the following.
1.Copy themselves to other programs or areas of a disk.
2.Replicate as rapidly and frequently as possible, filling up the infected system’s disk and memory rendering the systems useless.
3.Display information on the screen.
4.Modify, corrupt or destroy selected files.
5.Erase the contents of entire disks.
6.Lie dormant for a specified time or until a given condition is met, and then become active.
7.Open a back door to the infected system that allows someone else to access and even control of the system through a network or internet connection.
8.Some viruses can crash the system by causing some programs (typically Windows) to behave oddly.
How viruses spread from one system to another?
The most likely virus entry points are email, Internet and network connections, floppy disk drives, and modems or other serial or parallel port connections. In today's increasingly interconnected workplace (Internet, intranet, shared drives, removable drives, and email), virus outbreaks now can spread faster and wider than ever before.
The following are some common ways for a virus to enter the users’ computer system:
•Email attachments
•Malicious scripts in web pages or HTML email
•FTP traffic from the Internet (file downloads)
•Shared network files & network traffic in general
•Demonstration software
•Pirated software
•Shrink-wrapped, production programs (rare)
•Computer labs
•Electronic bulletin boards (BBS)
•Diskette swapping (using other people’s diskettes for carrying data and programs back and forth)
High risk files
The most dangerous files types are:
.EXE, .COM, .XLS, .DOC, .MDB
Because they don't need any special conversion to infect a computer -- all they've got to do is run and consequently the virus spreads. It has been estimated that 99% of all viruses are written for these file formats.
A list of possible virus carriers includes:
EXE - (Executable file)
SYS - (Executable file)
COM - (Executable file)
DOC - (Microsoft Word)
XLS - (Microsoft Excel)
MDB - (Microsoft Access)
ZIP - (Compressed file, common in the USA)
ARJ - (Compressed file, common in the USA)
DRV - (Device driver)
BIN - (Common boot sector image file)
SCR - (Microsoft screen saver)
Common Symptoms Of Virus Infection
?Computer does not boot.
?Computer hard drive space is reduced.
?Applications will not load.
?An application takes longer to load than normal time period.
?Hard dive activity increases especially when nothing is being done on the computer.
?An anti virus software message appears.
?The number of hard drive bad sectors steadily increases.
?Unusual graphics or messages appear on the screen
?Files are missing (deleted)
?A message appears that hard drive cannot be detected or recognized.
?Strange sounds come from the computer.
?Some viruses take control of the keyboard and occasionally substitute a neighboring key for the one actually pressed. Another virus "swallows" key presses so that nothing appears on the screen.
?Also interesting are system time effects. Clocks going backwards are especially frightening for workers who cannot wait to go home. More seriously though, this type of virus can cause chaos for programs which depend on the system time or date.
?Some viruses can cost the user dearly by dialing out on his modem. We do not know of one which dials premium telephone numbers but no doubt we shall see one soon. One particularly malicious virus dials 911 (the emergency number in the USA) and takes up the valuable time of the emergency services.
Categories of viruses
Depending on the source of information different types of viruses may be categorized in the following ways:
PDA VIRUSES
The increasing power of PDAs has spawned a new breed of viruses. Maliciously creative programmers have leveraged the PDA's ability to communicate with other devices and run programs, to cause digital mayhem.
The blissfully safe world where users of these devices could synchronize and download with impunity came to an end in August 2000 with the discovery of the virus Palm Liberty. Since then, many more viruses have been discovered.
Though not yet as harmful as their PC-based cousins, these viruses still pose a threat to unsuspecting users. Their effects vary from the harmless flashing of an unwanted message or an increase in power consumption, to the deletion of all installed programs. But the threat is growing, and the destructiveness of these viruses is expected to parallel the development of the devices they attack.
MULTIPARTITE VIRUSES
A virus that two or more different infection methods will be combined as a multipartite virus. This type of virus can infect both files and boot sector of a floppy disk. Multi-party virus shares some of the characteristics of the boot-sector viruses and file viruses: you can. Com infect files. Exe files and the boot sector of the computer
BOMBS
The two most prevalent types of bombs are time bombs and logic bombs. A time bomb hides on the victim’s disk and waits until a specific date before running. A logic bomb may be activated by a date, a change to a file, or a particular action taken by a user or a program. Bombs are treated as viruses because they can cause damage or disruption to a system.
BOOT SECTOR VIRUSES
Until the mid-1990s, boot sector viruses were the most prevalent virus type, spreading primarily in the 16-bit DOS world via floppy disk. Boot sector viruses infect the boot sector on a floppy disk and spread to a user's hard disk, and can also infect the master boot record (MBR) on a user's hard drive. Once the MBR or boot sector on the hard drive is infected, the virus attempts to infect the boot sector of every floppy disk that is inserted into the computer and accessed. Examples of boot sector viruses are Michelangelo, Satria and Keydrop.
Boot sector viruses work like this: Let us assume that the user received a diskette with an infected boot sector. The user copied data from it but forgot to remove it from drive A:. When he started the computer next time the boot process will execute the infected boot sector program from the diskette. The virus will load first and infect the hard disk. Note that this can be prevented by changing the boot sequence in CMOS (Let C: drive boot before A:).By hiding on the first sector of a disk, the virus is loaded into memory before the system files are loaded. This allows it to gain complete control of DOS interrupts and in the process replaces the original contents of the MBR or DOS boot sector with their own contents and move the original boot sector data to another area on the disk. Because the virus has infected a system area of the hard disk it will be loaded into memory each time the computer is started. It will first take control of the lowest level disk system services before executing the original boot sector code which it has stored in another part of the hard disk. The computer seems to behave exactly as it should. Nobody will notice the extra few fractions of a second added to the boot sequence.
During normal operation the virus will happily stay in memory. Thanks to the fact that it has control of the disk services it can easily monitor requests for disk access - including diskettes. As soon as it gets a request for access to a diskette it will determine that there is a diskette in the floppy drive. It will then examine its boot sector to see if it has already been infected. If it finds the diskette clean it will replace the boot sector with its own code. From this moment the diskette will be a "carrier" and become a medium for infections on other PC's.
The virus will also monitor special disk requests for access to the boot sector. The boot sector contains its own code, and a request to read it could be from an anti-virus program checking for virus presence. The virus will not allow the boot sector to be read and will redirect all requests to the place on the hard disk where it has backed up the original contents. In this way nothing unusual is detected. Such methods are called stealth techniques and their main goal is to mask the presence of the virus. Not all boot viruses use stealth but those which do are common.
Boot viruses also infect the non-file (system) areas of hard and floppy disks. These areas offer an efficient way for a virus to spread from one computer to another. Boot viruses have achieved a higher degree of success than program viruses in infecting their targets and spreading.
Boot virus can infect DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98, Windows NT, and even Novell Netware systems. This is because they exploit inherent features of the computer (rather than the operating system) to spread and activate.
Cleaning up a boot sector virus can be performed by booting the machine from an uninfected floppy system disk rather than from the hard drive, or by finding the original boot sector and replacing it in the correct location on the disk.
CLUSTER VIRUSES
This type of virus makes changes to a disks file system. If any program is run from the infected disk, the program causes the virus to run as well. This technique creates the illusion that the virus has infected every program on the disk.
E-MAIL VIRUSES
These types of viruses can be transmitted via e-mail messages sent across private networks or the internet. Some e-mail viruses are transmitted as an infected attachment- a document file or program that is attached to the message. This type of virus is run when the victim opens the file that is attached to the message. Other types of email viruses reside within the body of the message itself. To store a virus, the message must be encoded in html format. Once launched many e-mail viruses attempt to spread by sending messages to everyone in the victim’s address book; each of those contains a copy of the virus.
The latest thing in the world of computer viruses is the e-mail virus called Melissa virus which surfaced in March 1999. Melissa spread in Microsoft Word documents sent via e-mail, and it worked like this:
Someone created the virus as a Word document uploaded to an Internet newsgroup. Anyone who downloaded the document and opened it would trigger the virus. The virus would then send the document (and therefore itself) in an e-mail message to the first 50 people in the person's address book. The e-mail message contained a friendly note that included the person's name, so the recipient would open the document thinking it was harmless. The virus would then create 50 new messages from the recipient's machine. As a result, the Melissa virus was the fastest-spreading virus ever seen and it forced a number of large companies to shut down their e-mail systems at that time.
The ILOVEYOU virus, which appeared on May 4, 2000, was even simpler. It contained a piece of code as an attachment. People who double clicked on the attachment allowed the code to execute. The code sent copies of itself to everyone in the victim's address book and then started corrupting files on the victim's machine. This is as simple as a virus can get. It is really more of a Trojan horse distributed by e-mail than it is a virus.
The Melissa virus took advantage of the programming language built into Microsoft Word called VBA, or Visual Basic for Applications. It is a complete programming language and it can be programmed to do things like modify files and send e-mail messages. It also has a useful but dangerous auto-execute feature. A programmer can insert a program into a document that runs instantly whenever the document is opened. This is how the Melissa virus was programmed. Anyone who opened a document infected with Melissa would immediately activate the virus. It would send the 50 e-mails, and then infect a central file called NORMAL.DOT so that any file saved later would also contain the virus! It created a huge mess.
FILE INFECTING VIRUSES
File infectors operate in memory and usually infect executable files with the following extensions: *.COM, *.EXE, *.DRV, *.DLL, *.BIN, *.OVL, *.SYS. They activate every time the infected file is executed by copying themselves into other executable files and can remain in memory long after the virus has activated.
Thousands of different file infecting viruses exist, but similar to boot sector viruses, the vast majority operates in a DOS 16-bit environment. Some, however, have successfully infected the Microsoft Windows, IBM OS/2, and Apple Computer Macintosh environments.
File viruses can be separated further into sub-categories by the way they manipulate their targets:
TSR FILE VIRUSES
A less common type of virus is the terminate-and-stay-resident file virus. As the name suggests these infect files usually these are .com and .exe files. there are however some device driver viruses, some viruses that infect overlay files, and although over 99% of executable programs have the extension .com and .exe, some do not .For a TSR virus to spread some one has to run an infected program. The virus goes memory resident typically looking at each program run thereafter and infects it. Examples of TSR file viruses are Dark Avenger and Green Caterpillar.
OVERWRITING VIRUSES
These viruses infect by overwriting part of their target with their own code but, by doing so, they damage the file. The file will never serve another purpose other than spreading the virus further. Because of this they are usually detected quickly and do not spread easily.
PARASITIC VIRUSES
These viruses attach themselves to executables without substantially changing the contents of the host program. They attach by adding their code to the beginning, end, or even middle of the file and divert program flow so that the virus is executed first. When the virus has finished its job, control is passed on to the host. Execution of the host is a little delayed but this is usually not noticeable.
MACRO VIRUSES
Many older applications had simple macro systems that allowed the user to record a sequence of operations within the application and associate them with a specific keystroke. Later, the user could perform the same sequence of operations by merely hitting the specified key.
Newer applications provide much more complex macro systems. User can write entire macro-programs that run within the word processor or spreadsheet environment and are attached directly onto word processing and spreadsheet files. Unfortunately, this ability also makes it possible to create macro viruses.
Macro viruses currently account for about 80 percent of all viruses, according to the International Computer Security Association (ICSA), and are the fastest growing viruses in computer history. Unlike other virus types, macro viruses aren’t specific to an operating system and spread with ease via email attachments, floppy disks, Web downloads, file transfers, and cooperative applications.
Macro viruses are, however, application-specific. A macro virus is designed to infect a specific type of document file, such as Microsoft word or excel files. They infect macro utilities that accompany such applications as Microsoft Word and Excel, which means a Word macro virus cannot infect an Excel document and vice versa. A macro virus is embedded in a document file and can travel between data files in the application and can eventually infect hundreds of files if undeterred and in the process do various levels of damage to data from corrupting documents to deleting data.
Macro viruses are written in "every man's programming language" -- Visual Basic -- and are relatively easy to create. They can infect at different points during a file's use, for example, when it is opened, saved, closed, or deleted
A typical chronology for macro virus infection begins when an infected document or spreadsheet is loaded. The application also loads any accompanying macros that are attached to the file. If one or more of the macros meet certain criteria, the application will also immediately execute these macros. Macro viruses rely upon this auto-execution capability to gain control of the application’s macro system.
Once the macro virus has been loaded and executed, it waits for the user to edit a new document, and then kicks into action again. It attaches its virus macro programs onto the new document, and then allows the application to save the document normally. In this fashion, the virus spreads to another file and does so in a completely discrete fashion. Users have no idea of the infection. If this new file is later opened on another computer, the virus will once again load, be launched by the application, and find other unsuspecting files to infect.
Finally, as far as a macro virus is concerned, the application serves as the operating system. A single macro virus can spread to any of the platforms on which the application is installed and running. For example, a single macro virus that uses Microsoft Word could conceivably spread to Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98, Window NT, and the Macintosh.
Macro viruses for Word
In the summer of 1995, Microsoft Word 6 was the first product affected with macro virus. The first one (WM/Concept.A) was really only a proof of concept - one of the installed macros (called Payload) contained only this remark:
“That's enough to prove my point”
Most macro viruses for Word use a feature called 'automacros'. The basic principle is that some macros with special names are automatically executed when Word starts, opens a file, or closes a file. The macro virus then inserts macros into NORMAL.DOT - a standard template which is loaded every time Word starts.
In Word there are some ways to disable automacros but this isn't the ultimate solution. Some macro viruses use other methods to take control over the Word environment.
Another method of self-protection may be to set NORMAL.DOT to read only. But this can also be bypassed and, in addition, it prevents the user from customizing the template.
Macro viruses for Excel
Excel has the same opportunities for virus authors as Word. It has automacros and a directory called XLSTART from which templates are automatically loaded.
But Excel does not have just normal VBA macros like Word. In Excel there are so called 'formulas' - macros stored in spreadsheet cells. The first macro virus using this technology was XF/Paix.
Macro viruses for other MS Office products:
Writing a macro virus for other Office products is not difficult. There have been already some viruses for Access, and it is expected that there will be macro viruses for Power Point in the near future.
But those macro viruses are not as dangerous as the macro viruses for Word or Excel. Not because of some limitation of these other Office products, but because data files from these products are not so frequently shared.
There is one danger which can be seen in today's Power Point even without native macro viruses written for this product. Programmers can include in their presentation any number of objects from Excel or Word. And these objects can be infected with macro viruses - if they edit the presentation and open the infected object with its parent application, then the virus can spread further.
But the current situation may change dramatically over the next few years. Microsoft has licensed VBA technology to many firms, so one can expect to see more macro viruses for other products, too.
POLYMORPHIC VIRUSES
You can change each time a copy is difficult to separate this type of the virus itself. Simplest virus to attach a copy of the identity of the infected file itself. Anti-virus programs can detect the virus
STEALTH VIRUSES
Stealth viruses actively seek to conceal themselves from attempts to detect or remove them. They also can conceal changes they make to other files, hiding the damage from the user and the operating system.
Stealth viruses, or Interrupt Interceptors, as they are sometimes called, take control of key DOS-level instructions by intercepting the interrupt table, which is located at the beginning of memory. This gives the virus the ability to do two important things: 1) gain control of the system by re-directing the interrupt calls, and 2) hide itself to prevent detection. They use techniques such as intercepting disk reads to provide an uninfected copy of the original item in place of the infected copy (read-stealthing viruses), altering disk directory or folder data for infected program files (size-stealthing), or both. For example, the Whale virus is a size-stealthing virus. It infects .EXE program files and alters the folder entries of infected files when other programs attempt to read them. The Whale virus adds 9216 bytes to an infected file. Because changes in file size are an indication that a virus might be present, the virus then subtracts the same number of bytes (9216) from the file size given in the directory/folder entry to trick the user into believing that the file’s size has not changed.
An antivirus program which is not equipped with anti-stealth technology will be deceived.
COMPANION VIRUSES
A companion virus is the exception to the rule that a virus must attach itself to a file. The companion virus instead creates a new file and relies on a behavior of DOS to execute it instead of the program file that is normally executed. These viruses target EXE programs. They create another file of the same name but with a COM extension containing the virus code. These viruses take advantage of a property of MS-DOS which allows files to share the same first name in the same directory (e.g. ABC.EXE and ABC.COM) but executes COM files in preference to EXE files.
For example, the companion virus could create a file called CHKDSK.COM and in the same directory as CHKDSK.EXE. If DOS needs to run between two files with the same name, choose where you one. EXE extension and the others. COM extension, it leads to. COM file. This is not an effective means of dissemination, but has one big advantage - there will be no changes to files in any way, and the integrity tests or permanent protection can escape. Another method that can be used by Companion viruses is based on set path. A virus simply makes an infected file in the path before the directory listed in the original program.
PROGRAM VIRUSES
Like normal programs, program viruses must be written for a specific operating system. The vast majority of viruses are written for DOS but some have been written for Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98, and even UNIX. All versions of Windows are compatible with DOS and can host DOS viruses with varying degrees of success. Program viruses infect program files, which commonly have extensions such as .COM, .EXE, .SYS, .DLL, .OVL, or .SCR. Program files are attractive targets for virus writers because they are widely used and have relatively simple formats to which viruses can attach.
Malicious Programs and Scripts
Viruses that infect agent programs (such as those that download software from the Internet; for example, JAVA and ActiveX).
WORM
A worm is a computer program that has the ability to copy itself from machine to machine. Worms normally move around and infect other machines through computer networks. An entire LAN or corporate e-mail system can become totally clogged with copies of a worm, rendering it useless. Worms are commonly spread over the internet via e-mail message attachments and through internet relay chat channels.
For example, the Code Red worm replicated itself over 250,000 times in approximately nine hours on July 19, 2001.
A worm usually exploits some sort of security hole in a piece of software or the operating system. For example, the Slammer worm (which caused mayhem in January 2003) exploited a hole in Microsoft's SQL server.
Worms use up computer time and network bandwidth when they are replicating, and they often have some sort of evil intent. A worm called Code Red made huge headlines in 2001. Experts predicted that this worm could clog the Internet so effectively that things would completely grind to a halt.
The Code Red worm slowed down Internet traffic when it began to replicate itself, but not nearly as badly as predicted. Each copy of the worm scanned the Internet for Windows NT or Windows 2000 servers that do not have the Microsoft security patch installed. Each time it found an unsecured server, the worm copied itself to that server. The new copy then scanned for other servers to infect. Depending on the number of unsecured servers, a worm could conceivably create hundreds of thousands of copies.
The Code Red worm was designed to do three things:
•Replicate itself for the first 20 days of each month
•Replace Web pages on infected servers with a page that declares "Hacked by Chinese"
•Launch a concerted attack on the White House Web server in an attempt to overwhelm it
The most common version of Code Red is a variation, typically referred to as a mutated strain, of the original Ida Code Red that replicated itself on July 19, 2001.
TROJAN HORSES
Trojans are another type of malware that are generally as something else to do as the user expects that the agreed
Because Trojan horses do not make duplicates of themselves on the victims disk (or copy themselves to other disks), they are not technically viruses. But because they can do harm, many experts consider them to be a type of virus. Trojan horses are often used as by hackers to create a back door to an infected system. Trojans, such as BackOrrifice are very dangerous. If anyone runs this program and his computer is connected to the internet, then the hacker can take control of that computer - transfer files to or from the computer, capture screen contents, run any program or kill any running process, etc.
Once a Trojan is installed onto the system this program has the same privileges as the user of the computer and can exploit the system to do something the user did not intend such as:
?Delete files
?Transmit to the intruder any files that the user can read
?Change any files that the user can modify
?Install other programs with the user’s privileges
?Execute privilege-elevation attacks—the Trojan can attempt to exploit a weakness to raise the level of access beyond the user running the Trojan. If successful, the Trojan can operate with increased privileges.
?Install viruses
?Install other Trojans
The Following Tips Will Help The User To Minimize Virus Risk:
?If the users are truly worried about traditional (as opposed to e-mail) viruses, they should be running a more secure operating system like UNIX. One should never hear about viruses on these operating systems because the security features keep viruses (and unwanted human visitors) away from the hard disk.
?If the users are using an unsecured operating system, then buying virus protection software is a nice safeguard. Some popular anti virus programs include:
•McAfee Virus Scan
•Norton Anti Virus
•Virex
•PC—cillin
•Avast!
•AVG Anti Virus System
?Automatic protection of anti-virus software should be turned on at all times.
?The users should perform a manual scan (or schedule a scan to occur automatically) of their hard disks weekly. These scans supplement automatic protection and confirm that the computer is virus-free.
?Scan all floppy disks before first use.
?Disable floppy disk booting -- most computers now allow the user to do this, and that will eliminate the risk of a boot sector virus coming in from a floppy disk accidentally left in the drive.
?The users should Enable Automatic Update option of their anti-virus software in order to update their virus definition files.
?Creation and maintenance of a rescue disk should be done by the user in order to facilitate recovery from certain boot viruses.
?Periodic backups of the hard disk should be done.
?Users’ should buy legal copies of all software they use and make write-protected backups.
? Email messages and email attachments from unknown people should not be opened. Attachments that come in as Word files (.DOC), spreadsheets (.XLS), images (.GIF and .JPG), etc., are data files and they can do no damage (noting the macro virus problem in Word and Excel documents mentioned above). A file with an extension like EXE, COM or VBS is an executable, and an executable can do any sort of damage it wants. Further it should be verified that the "author" of the email has sent the attachments. Newer viruses can send email messages that appear to be from a person user know.
?The potential users should make sure that Macro Virus Protection is enabled in all Microsoft applications, and they should never run macros in a document unless they know specifically the functionality of the macros.
?Appropriate Passwords should be assigned to the shared network drives.
Things that are not viruses!
Joke programs
Joke programs are not viruses and do not inflict any damage. Their purpose is to frighten their victims into thinking that a virus has infected and damaged their system. For example, a joke program may display a message warning the user not to touch any keys or else the computer’s hard disk will be formatted.
Droppers
A dropper is a program that is not a virus, nor is it infected with a virus but when run it installs a virus into memory on to the disk, or onto a file. Droppers have been written sometimes as a convenient carrier for a virus and sometimes as an act of sabotage.
Hoaxes
There must be very few people on email who haven't received a chain letter with the subject line warning of a virus doing the rounds. These are often hoaxes and meant to scare people and have fun at their expense. The warnings encourage the recipient of the e-mail to pass the warning to the netizens and thus create an unnecessary furor, besides clogging mailboxes, as it usurps an air of credibility.
Methodology of virus detection applied by antivirus softwares:
Three main methods exist for detecting viruses: integrity checking (also known as checksumming), behavior monitoring and pattern matching (scanning).
Integrity checking
Antivirus programs that use integrity checking start by building an initial record of the status (size, time, date, etc.) of every application file on the hard drive. Using this data, checksumming programs then monitor the files to see if changes have been made. If the status changes, the integrity checker warns the user of a possible virus.
However, this method has several disadvantages, the biggest being that false alarms are altogether too common. The records used by checksumming programs are often rendered obsolete by legitimate programs, which, in their normal course of operations, make changes to files that appear to the Integrity checker to be viral activity. Another weakness of integrity checking is that it can only alert the user after a virus has infected the system.
Behavior monitoring
Behavior Monitoring programs are usually terminate and stay resident (TSR) and constantly monitor requests that are passed to the interrupt table. These programs are on the lookout for activities that a virus might engage in--requests to write to a boot sector, opening an executable program for writing, or placing itself resident in memory. The behavior these programs monitor is derived from a user-configurable set of rules.
Pattern matching
Using a process called "pattern matching," the anti-virus software draws upon an extensive database of virus patterns to identify known virus signatures, or telltale snippets of virus code. Key areas of each scanned file are compared against the list of thousands of virus signatures that the anti-virus software has on record.
Whenever a match occurs, the anti-virus software takes the action the user has configured: Clean, Delete, Quarantine, Pass (Deny Access for Real-time Scan), or Rename.
Self Defense Mechanisms Evolved By Viruses
Virus authors of course wish that their child successfully lives. For this reason there are many viruses outfitted with some self-defense mechanisms against anti virus systems.
Passive Defense :
Viruses use a variety of methods to hide themselves from antivirus programs. Passive defense uses programming methods which make analysis of the virus more difficult, e.g. polymorphic viruses which were developed to counter scanners looking for constant strings of virus code.
Today antivirus systems are capable of analyzing polymorphic code and searching for virus identifiers in the decrypted body. The virus authors reacted by making the encryption too complex for antivirus software to unravel, thus mistaking it for a clean program.
Active Self-defense :
Viruses actively defend themselves by protecting their own code or by attempting to damage antivirus software. A simple method is to locate antivirus software databases and amend or delete them.
Viruses use stealth technology more sophisticated resident. When the request by using detect the infected files, they temporarily
There are very rare viruses which consider an attempt to run an anti-virus program as arrogant and immediately reply with some revenge action - for example hard disk formatting.
Trap
A trap is the most malicious form of self-defense and works as follows. Although the user’s computer is infected but everything appears to work correctly. Once the user discovers the virus and removes it things get complicated - programs no longer run properly or the hard disk may become inaccessible even when booting from a clean system diskette.
The best known trap virus is One_Half. It continuously encrypts the data on a hard disk (two tracks on every boot). If it is removed from the partition sector before data files are decoded then some files will become inaccessible. At this stage the situation is serious but recovery of the data is still possible. However, if the user runs a disk utility (Scandisk etc.) to repair the damage then the data will almost certainly be lost forever.
These utilities are designed to repair relatively minor damage to file system and do not recognize the encrypted data.
REFERENCE:
1.Mary Landesman “What is a virus?”
http://antivirus.about.com/cs/tutorials/a/whatisavirus.htm
2.NetGuide “What are computer viruses? “–
http://www.netguide.co.nz/knowhow/tutorials/print.php?iid=38
3.Marshall Brain “How Computer Viruses Work”
http://www.Howstuffworks How Computer Viruses Work.htm
4.AVG Anti Virus Free Edition Help
Developed by Grisoft Inc
5.Norton Anti-virus Help
Developed by Symantec Corporation
6.Trend Micro PC-cillin Help
Developed by Trend Micro Inc
7.Peter Norton “Computer Viruses”
Introduction to Computers, Tata McGraw Hill Co:
8. Dr.Solomon ”About Viruses” &”Virus Prevention”
Dr.Solomon’s Virus Encyclopedia, Dr.Solomon’s Software Ltd.
9.C.A.Schmidt ”Virus”
The Complete Computer Upgrade And Repair Text Book,Dreamtech
10. S.Jaiswal “Virus Detection And Elimination”
Information Technology Today, Galgotia Publication Pvt. Ltd.