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Different Types of Viruses and Their Origins

What type of virus was that? Where did it come from? We work with and depend upon computers, yet when we hear about something new and as strange as a virus it's natural to wonder what everyone else is talking about.

To date, there are at least 7000 viruses for the PC that have been identified, compared to approximately 300 for the Macintosh. The number of viruses for the PC is still increasing at about a rate of 2-3 per day.

The following sites are databases with listings of known PC and Macintosh viruses and some of their origins by country:

CASG-IFEC Information Site
http://www-tec.open.ac.uk/virusnews/avtwo.html

An in-depth explanation of Dir.Byway virus
http://www.nha.com/dirbyway.html

The Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC) Information Site:
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/notes/Notes01.shtml

Macintosh Viruses and their history :
http://www.symantec.com/virus/vtech/macvinfo.html

Another extensive virus description database from Finland:
http://www.datafellows.fi/vir-desc.htm

[What is a Virus?] [Avoiding Viral Infections] [ History of Viruses ] [Help, I'm Infected!] [Myths about Viruses] [Sick Humor] [Questions about Viruses] [Resources and Links]