computer virus? why do they do it?

[mongman]

just had to remove the terrible norton antivirus as it screwed up my download of kaspersky i got free with my online banking and of course i got a lovely virus that opened internet explorer windows everywhere. after i got over 30 individual windows i turned off my laptop halfway through a 7 hour disc cleanup wondering why the sad lonely wastes of space don't go out and get a girlfriend or meet humans rather than writing viruses and trying to annoy people they don't know for no reason at all? it's stupid and senseless and cost people money so the fools are shooting themselves in the foot as everything costs more since companies have to protect themselves. i can understand (though not agree) why hackers write them to hide their trails and terrorist and activists to cause chaos for their chosen targets but why do simpleminded nut jobs write them for no reason? and more importantly why don't any of the governments doing anything about these freaks? also if anyone's reading this who does write viruses for their own perverse twisted pleasure i sincerely hope it causes offence. maybe then you'll stop doing it and wasting everyones time and money. right. rant over. have a nice day. off to give my laptop a cold and flu jab
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[Villers]

Fair question.

Ive often wondered why myself. It must be a look at me thing, or perhaps its some gutless piece of shit with no friends. Either way for me its no different to coming outside in the morning to find someones pushed your bike over or scratched your car. It may be an anti establishment thing, in which case congratulations in creating a billion dollar anti virus companies
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[MaybeGuy]

because they have never felt the touch of a woman, never will, and they know it...
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Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[Visitor Q]

Meh, I've been grinding along fairly well without antivirus software for years.

Back shit up, if it dies you replace it. I haven't wiped my laptop for over a year, and asides from some adware and the fact my flashdrives tend to flag up on other peoples comps () I've had no problems.

Just don't download dodgy stuff .mp3, mpeg and avi are all cushty (usually, apart from the ones with website loaders on them )

That said, would it really shock anyone if the likes of Norton etc employed people now and then to unleash annoying things. Or simply things that would flag up on said software so it looks useful?

I remember an old IT text book had a great glossary definition of a virus;
Virus - A program created by a malicious and mal-adjusted individual to cause damage.


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[colin1]

Maybe they write viruses because they cant get a girlfriend and want to get revenge on anyone who can.

Or maybe they lost their girlfriend to some guy who they know doesnt have anti virus software.

this reminds me of a joke

One day, a twelve year old boy walks into a brothel. The madam asks "Can I help you son?" to which he replies, "Yes I'd like a girl for the night."

She says "I'm afraid you are too young for one of my girls." So he gets out his wallet and gives her $200. To which she says "She'll be waiting for you up stairs."

The boy says "But she's got to have herpes."

The Madam replies "But all my girls are clean!" So out comes the wallet again and he gives her another $200. The Madam says "OK, she'll be ready for you in about 10 mins".

So he goes up the stairs dragging the dead frog. About 1/2 an hour later he comes down the stairs,with a big grin on his face. By now the Madam was just a touch curious so she asked him "Why did you come in here asking for a girl with herpes?".

"Well, it's like this", he says, "When I get home tonight I'll screw the baby-sitter and then she'll get herpes. Then when my parents get home dad will drive her home and on the way they'll stop and have sex, and he'll get herpes. Later when dad gets home mum and dad will make love and then she'll get herpes. And at about 9.30 tomorrow morning, when dad has gone to work, the milkman will come round, screw my mother and then he'll get herpes...

...AND HE'S THE BASTARD WHO KILLED MY FROG.
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[SoND]

[neil.]

Originally, back in the earlier days of computing, it was seen as a technical challenge to write a piece of software that could copy itself and spread. That was what a computer virus was in its original sense. Simple, self-replicating, stealthy, unobtrusive. Originally non-malicious. However, a side effect was that one way for these viruses to hide from detection was to embed themselves into existing files. This sometimes broke/corrupted those files if it was done poorly, meaning loss of data for the user. Later on, individuals started adding a 'payload' to the virus, which could do anything from flashing a message on the screen, to overwriting the computer's BIOS or corrupting/deleting files on the hard disk deliberately.

So whilst the computer virus didn't actually start out life as something malicious, sadly, today, that's what it has become.
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[arry]

I think it's a big ploy to keep people in AV software in jobs

[neil.]

[ncrn]

GNU and Linux aren't free from viruses, its simply due to the fact that they are a minor player compared to windows and therefore people don't bother to write for them.

I always figured viruses were simply for crime so people could try get bank details or just simply fill your pc with ads which they generate revenue from.
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[neil.]

I should have said 'immune from Windows virii'. The nature of these operating systems does mean they are somewhat hardened against various exploits that would cripple Windows. Linux and BSD do very well in the server markets and are starting to really catch up on the desktop, especially with the ultra mobile PC's we now see. Most of the internet's infrastructure isn't Windows. Major manufacturers are now offering Linux with their desktops and servers. Still, nothing is 100% secure unless you take away the network connection and any removable storage.

There is definite criminal intent now that a lot of folks have their financial details on their computers but back in the day when computers were a niche, there would have been no way to really gain anything financial etc from writing this stuff, unless you were thinking of gaining access to a major organisation/bank mainframe etc.
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[Hetzer]

They do it because they're a) after doing harm to MS, are b) just malicious scum or c) they think it might get them a good job (which it does sometimes, MS hired at least one of them).
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[bazza]

[Villers]

Colin, you forgot to mention the dead frog at the beginning of the joke! God your as bad as my mrs.
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[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Because they can.

I think most of it's a look at me thing. Think of it as E-Graffiti.
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[colin1]

[ncrn]

[thx1138]

some of them might be written to ensure that the lucrative anti-virus market continues....

[stinkwheel]

[Chriss]

I imagine it's because people get fed up paying top dollar for ridiculously shabby software that's completely insecure. Then, when they're fed up of getting screwed for every pound from M$, they exploit these holes.

I believe the biggest reason for less viruses for GNU software, is it's open source, so bugs are fixed easier.
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[bazza]

[Skudd]

So they can show it to the man or the pig scvm fvckers government trough eaters or some crap like that.
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[Harold_Shand]

Inferior people gaining some superiority.

In my opinion, biking is choc-full of the very same.
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Harold_Shand's theory might be the best explanation.

[ncrn]

[Silver]

I 'acquired' the Rapid Antivirus trojan horse at the weekend. It bombarded me with popups telling me that I was infected and I should pay for their full software to remove the infection (yeah right!). Obviously I was overjoyed that it got straight through my AV software and installed itself. Fairly impressive was the fact that it also amended browser settings and stopped me getting to any AV related website to read up on it.

Took me two and a half hours to get rid of the bastard. If the person who had written it was put in front of me, I'd probably be in the news now - accused of ramming my PC sideways up his arse!