COMPUTER VIRUS - HISTORY

The creeper virus was first detected on ARPANET, the forerunner of the internet, in the early 1970s. Creeper was an experimental self – replicating program written by Bob Thomas at BBN Technologies in 1970. Creeper used the ARPANET to infect DEC PDP – 10 computers running the TENEX operating system. Creeper gained access via the ARPANET and copied itself to the remote system where the message, “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!” was displayed. The Reaper program was created to the delete creeper.

A program called “Rother J” was the first computer virus to appear “in the wild” - that is, outside the single computer or lab where it was created. Written in 1981 by Richard skrenta, it attached itself to the Apple Dos 3.3 operating system and spread via floppy disk. The virus, created as a practical joke when Skrenta was still in high school, was injected in a game on a floppy disk. On its 50^th use the EIK cloner virus would be activated, infecting the computer and displaying a short poem beginning “EIK Cloner” the program with a personality.”

The first PC virus in the wild was a boot sector virus dubbed ( C ) Brain, created in 1986 by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in Lahore, Pakistan, reportedly to deter piracy of the software they had written. However, analysts have claimed that the Ashar Virus, a variant of Brain, possibly predated it based on code within the virus.

Before computer networks became widespread, most viruses spread on removable media, particularly floppy disks. In the early days of the personal computer, many users regularly exchanged information and programs on floppies. Some viruses spread by infecting programs stored on these disks, while others installed themselves into the disk boot sector, ensuring that they would be run when the user booted the computer from the disk, usually inadvertently. PCs of the era would attempt to boot first from a floppy if one had been left in the drive. Until floppy disks fell out of use, this was the most successful infection strategy and boot sector viruses were the most common in the wild for many years.

Traditional computer viruses emerged in the 1980s, driven by the spread of personal computers and the resultant increase in BBS, modem use, and software sharing. Bulletin board – driven software sharing contributed directly to the spread of Trojan horse programs and viruses were written to infect popularly traded software. Shareware and bootleg software were equally common vectors for viruses on BBS’s. Within the “pirate scene” of hobbyists trading illicit copies of retail software, traders in a hurry to obtain the latest applications were easy targets for viruses.

Macro viruses have become common since the mid – 1990s. Most of these viruses are written in the scripting languages for Microsoft programs such as Word and Excel and spread throughout Microsoft Office by infecting documents and spreadsheets. Since Word and Excel were also available for Mac OS, most could also spread to Macintosh computers. Although most of these viruses did not have the ability to send infected e – mail, those viruses which did took advantage of the Microsoft Outlook COM interface.

Some old versions of Microsoft Word allow macros to replicate themselves with additional blank links. If two macro viruses simultaneously infect a document, the combination of the two, if also self – replicating, can appear as a “matting” of the two and would likely be detected as a virus unique from the “parents”.

A virus may also send a web address link as an instant message to all the contacts on an infected machine. If the recipient, thinking the link is from a friend follows the link to the website, the virus hosted at the site may be able to infect this new computer and continue propagating.

Viruses that spread using cross – site scripting were first reported in 2002, and were academically demonstrated in 2005. There have been multiple instances of the cross – site scripting viruses in the wild, exploiting websites such as my space and Yahoo.

COMPUTER VIRUS (DEFINITION)

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer. The term "Virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of Delaware, adware, and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can only spread from one computer to another ( in some from of executable code ) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a user sent it over a network or internet, or carried it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB drive. Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.
The term "computer virus" is sometimes used a a catch all phrase to include all types of malware, adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojans, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware, and other malicious and unwanted software, including true viruses. Viruses are sometimes confused with computer worms and trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilites to spread itself to other computers without needing to be transferred as a part of a host, and a trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but has a hidden agends. Worms and Trojans, like viruses, may cause harm to either a computer system's hosted data, functional performance, or networking throughput, when they are excuted. some viruses and other malware have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but many are surreptitious or go unnoticed.

New technology to make smaller, smarter, faster computer chips

Scientists have developed a new technology which they claim will help make computers smaller, faster and more efficient.


A team at California University has created a way to make square, nanoscale, chemical patterns that may be used in the manufacture of integrated circuit chips “as early as 2011”. The method is called block co-polymer lithography.

They have also built a process for creating features on silicon wafers between five and 20 nano meters thick.

“For the future, we need more powerful microprocessors that use less energy. And, if you can shrink all these things down, you get both. You get power and energy efficiency in one package,” said Craig Hawker, who led the team that developed the process.

“We’ve come up with this new blending approach, called block co-polymer lithography, or BCP. It essentially relies on a natural self-assembly process.”

“Just like proteins in the body, these molecules come together and self assemble into a pattern. And so we use that pattern as our lithographic tool, to make patterns on the silicon wafer,” he explained.

“Using this technique, the size of the features is about the same as that of the molecules,” Hawker, said.

According to the scientists, the new technology is designed to be compatible with current manufacturing methods, giving it the potential to be a “slip-in” technology, the Science Daily reported.

“All the big microprocessor companies like Intel and IBM have invested billions of dollars in their fabrication plants. They’re not going to throw out that technology anytime soon. It is too big of an investment and would not make good business sense,” Hawker added.

“This allows them to introduce a new technology using current tools in the same fabrication plants. So, they don’t have to make huge up front investments to bring this to manufacturing. That’s a key feature,” they said.

POCKET PC

New inventions are everyday occurrences in the computer world. As a matter of fact, a month ago, Stealth Ideas Inc., introduced the Stealth Surfer II ID Protect. It is a miniature flash drive that lets you surf the Internet anonymously from your computer using an encrypted mode. It comes with memory of 256 megabytes to two-gigabytes and prices start at $99. For those who dabble in the arts, the DigiMemo-692 Digital Notepad enables you to record sketches with ink and paper and then syncronize your notes into your PC using any handwriting reorganization software.

Hand held devices such as PDA or Pocket PC is best for note sketching and it can be synchronized into your PC as a digital copy. The problem of the hand held is its screen input limitations and the screen protector needs to be replaced frequently. DigiMemo 692 Digital Notepad is a breakthrough to all these limitations which is able to 'record' your sketches with ink and ordinary paper. You can easily synchronize your notes into your PC and it is compatible with most of the handwriting reorganization software. This handy device will record your notes, ideas and sketches without the need to scan, and it comes with ink cartridge, a digital pen and software. It also comes with a USB cable that is compatible with WIN 2000 and XP.

The Microsoft Xbox 360 is one of the latest inventions of video games. Video game lovers everywhere are rejoicing the arrival of the new system. The newest Xbox is still a gamer's dream, but it is also being marketed as a media center. Not only can the system be used for playing video games, but it can also be used to play DVDs, CDs and MP3s. Digital cameras can be hooked up to it, as well as mp3 players and even personal computers.

Patenting computer and related inventions come under the intellectual property rights of different countries, where the ownership and copy rights are reserved to the person or organization who invented the product. But in the United States, computer hardware or software invention are deemed patentable only if the invention is vital to a particular task or process. In short, patents are not given to software or even hardware, that are extensions to existing computer technology or if it's just a method of doing business.

One of the new computer inventions is patented by IBM and this is a tiny hard drive the size of a fifty cent piece. This small chip like thing can store up to 340 MB of data and will be very useful in mobile devices, digital cameras, music players, etc.
There are a lot of companies like the IBM and Microsoft that have full fledged research teams working full time on computer inventions.

Hardware components, involved in the function of a computer. computer hardware consists of the components that can be physically handled. The function of these components is typically divided into three main categories:

1.INPUT DEVICES,
2.OUTPUT DEVICES,
3.STORAGE DEVICES.

I.COMPUTER INPUT DEVICES

An input device consists of external devices that is, devices outside of the computer's CPU that provide information and instructions to the computer.

1.LIGHT PEN:
A light pen is a stylus with a light sensitive tip that is used to draw directly on a computer's video screen or to select information on the screen by pressing a clip in the light pen or by pressing the light pen against the surface of the screen. the pen contains light sensors that identify which portion of the screen its passed over.

2.MOUSE:
A mouse is a pointing device designed to be gripped by one hand. It has a detection device (usually a ball) on the bottom that enables the user to control the motion of an on - screen pointer, or cursor, by moving the mouse on a flat surface. As the device moves across the surface ,the cursor moves across the screen .To select items or choose commands on the screen ,the user presses a button on the mouse .

3.JOY STICK:
A joystick is a pointing device composed of a lever that moves in multiple directions to navigate a cursor or other graphical object on a computer screen.

4.KEYBOARD:
A keyboard is a type writer - like device that allows the user to type in text and commands to the computer some keyboards have special function keys or integrated pointing devices, such as a trackball or touch - sensitive regions that let the users finger motions move an on screen cursor.

5.OPTICAL SCANNER:
An optical scanner uses light - sensing equipment to convert images as a picture or text in to electronic signals that can be manipulated by a computer.

6.MICRO PHONE:
A micro phone is a device for converting sound into signals that can then be stored, manipulated, and played back by the computer.

7.VOICE RECOGNITION:
A voice recognition module is a device that converts spoken words into formation that the computer can recognize and process.

8.MODEM:
A modem which stands for modulator-demodulator is a device that connects a computer to a phone line or a cable television network and allows information to be transmitted to or receive from another computer. Each computer that sends or receives information must be connected to a modem. the digital signal sent from one computer is converted by the modem into an analog signal, which is then transmitted by telephone lines to receiving modem which converts the signal back into a digital signal that the receiving computer can understand.

II. OUTPUT DEVICES

output hardware consists of external devices that transfer information from the computer's CPU to the computer user. A video display or screen converts information generated by the computer into visual information.

1.DISPLAY:
Displays commonly take one of two forms. a video screen with a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a video screen with a liquid crystal display (LCD).
a CRT based screen looks similar to a television set. information from the CPU is displayed using a beam of electrons that scans a phosphorescent surface that emits light and creates images.
An LCD based screen displays visual information on a flatter and smaller than a CRT based video monitor. LCDs are frequently used in laptop computers.

2.PRINTERS:
Printers take text and image from a computer and print them on a paper. Dot - matrix printers use tiny wires to impact upon an inked ribbon to form characters. Laser printers employ beams of light to draw images on a drum that then picks up fine black particles called toner. this is used to produce an image. Inkjet printers fire droplets on ink onto a page to form characters and pictures.

III. STORAGE DEVICES

Storage hardware provides permanent storage on information and programs for retrieval by the computer. The main types of storage devices are disk drives and memory.

1. HARD DISK DRIVE:
Hard disk drives store information in magnetic particles embedded in a disk. Usually a permanent part of the computer, hard disk drives can store large amounts of information and retrieve that information very quickly.

2.FLOPPY DISK DRIVE:
Floppy disk drives also store information in magnetic particles embedded in a removable disks that may be floppy or rigid. Floppy disk store less information than a hard disk drive and retrieve the information at a much slower rate.

3.MAGNETO OPTICAL DISK DRIVE:
Magneto optical disk drives store information on removable disks that are sensitive to both laser light and magnetic fields. they can typically store as much information as hard disks, but they have slightly slower than retrieval speeds.

4.COMPACT DISK DRIVE:
Compact disk drives store information on pits burned into the surface of a disk of reflective material. CD ROMs can store about as much information as a hard drive but have slower rate of retrieval. A digital video disk (DVD) looks and works like a CD ROM but can store more than 7 times as much information.

5.MEMORY:
Memory refers to the computer chips that store information for quick retrieval by the CPU. Random Access Memory is used to store the information and instructions that operate the computers programs.
typically programs are transferred from storage on a disk drive to RAM. RAM is also known as volatile memory because the information within the computer chips is lost when power to the computer turned off.
Read Only Memory (ROM) contains critical information and software that must be permanently available for computer operation, such as the OS that directs the computer actions from start up to shut down. ROM is called non volatile memory because the memory chips don't lose their information when power to the computer is turned off.

COMPUTER GENERATIONS

The history of computer development is often referred to in reference to the different generations of computing devices. Each generation of computer is characterized by a major technological development that fundamentally changed the way computers operate, resulting in increasingly smaller, cheaper, more powerful and more efficient and reliable devices.

Read about each generation and the developments that led to the current devices that we use today.

First Generation (1940-1956) Vacuum Tubes
The first computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory, and were often enormous, taking up entire rooms. They were very expensive to operate and in addition to using a great deal of electricity, generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions.

First generation computers relied on machine language, the lowest-level programming language understood by computers, to perform operations, and they could only solve one problem at a time. Input was based on punched cards and paper tape, and output was displayed on printouts.

The UNIVAC and ENIAC computers are examples of first-generation computing devices. The UNIVAC was the first commercial computer delivered to a business client, the U.S. Census Bureau in 1951.

Second Generation (1956-1963) Transistors
Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the second generation of computers. The transistor was invented in 1947 but did not see widespread use in computers until the late 1950s. The transistor was far superior to the vacuum tube, allowing computers to become smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient and more reliable than their first-generation predecessors. Though the transistor still generated a great deal of heat that subjected the computer to damage, it was a vast improvement over the vacuum tube. Second-generation computers still relied on punched cards for input and printouts for output.

Second-generation computers moved from cryptic binary machine language to symbolic, or assembly, languages, which allowed programmers to specify instructions in words. High-level programming languages were also being developed at this time, such as early versions of COBOL and FORTRAN. These were also the first computers that stored their instructions in their memory, which moved from a magnetic drum to magnetic core technology.

The first computers of this generation were developed for the atomic energy industry.

Third Generation (1964-1971) Integrated Circuits
The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the third generation of computers. Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips, called semiconductors, which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of computers.

Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third generation computers through keyboards and monitors and interfaced with an operating system, which allowed the device to run many different applications at one time with a central program that monitored the memory. Computers for the first time became accessible to a mass audience because they were smaller and cheaper than their predecessors.

Fourth Generation (1971-Present) Microprocessors
The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip. What in the first generation filled an entire room could now fit in the palm of the hand. The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, located all the components of the computer from the central processing unit and memory to input /output controls on a single chip.

In 1981 IBM introduced its first computer for the home user, and in 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh. Microprocessors also moved out of the realm of desktop computers and into many areas of life as more and more everyday products began to use microprocessors.

As these small computers became more powerful, they could be linked together to form networks, which eventually led to the development of the Internet. Fourth generation computers also saw the development of GUIs, the mouse and hand held devices.

Fifth Generation (Present and Beyond) Artificial Intelligence
Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial intelligence, are still in development, though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used today. The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a reality. Quantum computation and molecular and nanotechnology will radically change the face of computers in years to come. The goal of fifth-generation computing is to develop devices that respond to natural language input and are capable of learning and self-organization.