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Is
Your PC a Zombie? (And What's a Zombie, Anyway?)
Source:
Tom Spring, PC World Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Today,
more than 80 percent of all spam worldwide comes from zombie
PCs, experts say. Zombie PCs are computers that have been infected by
malicious code that allows spammers to use them to send junk e-mail.
And
these computers could be owned by anyone--businesses, universities, and
average users
Quite often zombie PCs are associated with botnets. The word
botnet
typically refers to a group of zombie PCs. The term zombie PC refers to
one of the PCs in a botnet, though in some cases a zombie PC may not be
tied into a botnet.
You can reduce your PC's risk of becoming a zombie by
installing a
personal firewall and antivirus software, and keeping your copy of
Windows up-to-date.
You should also be aware that a Trojan horse may have
disabled firewall
or antivirus software that usually launches automatically. To make sure
that your security apps are still running, try to launch them yourself.
Symptoms of a zombie PC include a suddenly sluggish broadband
connection, excessive hard drive activity, an unresponsive mouse or
keyboard, or bounce notifications in your inbox from people you never
tried to contact. But these symptoms do not guarantee that your PC is a
zombie.