ASSOCIATED TERMS
Worm
A self-contained program or set of programs, that spreads functional copies of itself or its segments to other computer systems. Unlike viruses, worms do not need to attach themselves to a host program, but spread through network connections.

Worms can be put in two categories:

1. Host Computer Worms: they are in the computer they run on, using network connections to copy themselves to other computers. They terminate themselves after being copied on another host.
2. Network Worms: they comprise multiple parts/segments. Each segment runs on a different machine, performing different actions. The network is used for several communication purposes, propagating a segment from one machine to another being one of them.

Trojan Horse
A program meddles with the programmers' work but is not visible or documented. Trojan Horses do not replicate, unlike viruses. In other words, it does not spread to other programs. A virus could be considered to be a special case of a Trojan Horse.


Dropper
A program that is designed to install a virus onto a computer. It contains the virus code, which cannot be detected by scanners. The dropper program itself is not infected with the virus.


ANSI Bomb
A sequence of characters that reprograms various keyboard functions of computers. It is usually embedded in a text file. This happens in computers with ANSI console (screen and keyboard) drivers.


ChipAway Virus
The ChipAway virus, in fact, is not a virus!

In many PCs there is an advanced BIOS feature that, when activated, prevents any writes to the MBR through BIOS disk routines. When active, this feature can cause problems if you install non-DOS operating systems (like OS/2, Windows 95 or Windows NT).

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