Computer Viruses for Dummies

This book isn't about writing viruses. The book is about how you can help defend against the threats of the internet. This is a very introductory book for the non-technical reader. Overall it gives a good organized summary of what you can do to protect yourself all of which are subjects that this book gives a very brief overview of.

The one thing about viruses that I've always wanted to know: why do people want to write and propagate virus programs. Surprisingly he does make some comments about virus writers, not to specifically identify them, but to give some history and general comments. I don't know that this was a help, but it's at least interesting. Beyond viruses, this book also goes into other forms of nasty programs like Trojan Horses, HiJackers (that replace your home page with theirs), worms, Phishing Scams, and Spyware. I'd have liked to have seen just a little more about some of these, such as an evaluation of the anti- software that is available. Like all the For Dummies books, this is a good introductory book, not the final word. But if you have a computer connected to the web, you'd best be paying at least some attention to Viruses, and this is a good start.