What I believe are the Top 5 Most Dangerous Viruses ever

Today, my 7th Blog will take on a "red-carpet" sort of approach. Instead of counting down for the best dressed celebrity, I would be announcing the top 4 viruses which I believe are extremely dangerous and caused the most harm to computers, starting from number 4.

Before this happens, I intend to give a little introduction on what computer viruses are capable of doing to your computer(s) and how this happens.

Computer Viruses can cause plenty of problems for users. Although such viruses have a relatively short history, the damages that some of them have caused have prompted cyber-experts to carefully and cautiously review the issue of how to protect the users' computers from virus attacks. Some viruses led to serious damages and affected a large number of companies, universities and even governments.

Here is a video on what computer viruses tend to do to your computer, and other people's computers.



Starting at Number 4:
The Melissa Virus (1999)-This virus was acknowledged in March 1999 when it successfully shut down the Internet Mail System; it got blocked by the e-mails which were infected by this virus, or worms as it is called, and this caused the servers to overload and result to other serious problems. It was hidden in a file called "List.Dic" which featured passwords that served as keys to unlocking 80 pornographic websites, and it was sent through email to different users. Most Importantly, the Melissa Virus had the ability to multiply on Microsoft Word 97 and 2000 and Microsoft Excel 97,2000, and 2003; in addition to all that, the virus could mass mail itself from Microsoft Outlook 97 and 98.

At Number 3:
The Conficker Virus/Downadup worm (2009)-This computer virus had infected an approximate total of 3.5 million worldwide with China, Russia, and Brazil being the three most affected countries. Using the patched Windows flaw (which was intended to distantly compromise computers that ran un-patched versions of Microsoft's Operating System), it spread successfully across the Web. The most destructive power this virus have is that it is capable to make infected computers download destructive codes from a random drop point.

At Number 2:
Nimba (2001)-This virus infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide shortly after the unfortunate September 11 incident. Considered to be one of the most complicated viruses, it has 4 different methods of infecting computer systems and is able to duplicate itself; it infects Microsoft Web Server, Internet Information Server (IIS), and computer users who opened e-mail attachments.


Last but Certainly Not the Least, At Number 1:


I Love You Virus (2000)-The virus managed to infect computers around the world overnight. By sending passwords and usernames which were stored in the infected computers, it sent a copy of itself to everyone in the Windows Address Book and with the user's sender address; it also made a number of malicious changes to the user's system.

NOTE: I might be wrong so I truly welcome anyone's opinions on which viruses are the most dangerous and cause the most harm.

Knowing that such viruses do exist, I would suggest computer owners to install an effective anti-virus software like Security All-Suite or Antivirus. Although this might not be foolproof, there is no harm installing a software which protects your computer. I always believe that it is better to be safe than sorry.