What is A Computer Virus?
Before we can comprehend how a computer virus works, it is important to realise what a virus does when it attacks the human body. Viruses are microorganisms that can only multiply within another living cell. Body cells can be damaged as a result of a viral infection and an individual will become ill as consequence.
Virus can be translated from Latin as ‘toxin’, it is like a toxic substance, able to reproduce in the human cells and cause illnesses such as influenza and the chickenpox. In relation to computers, a computer virus is a harmful computer program which is able to duplicate and spread itself within a computer or computer network and will damage files or the computer itself. Usually hidden within a program, file or document, a computer virus can be anywhere on your processor.
These viruses are produced by felons, and other knowledgeable cretins with nothing better to do with their time except spread viruses to other people’s computers. Causing havoc is the main reason for doing this. Other computers, files or documents can be ‘infected’ by the computer virus, similar to a common virus like the flu (which spreads from one person to another). Files and documents can have a computer virus spread through them such as word-processing documents, spreadsheets, emails, computer programs etc. As well as through the Internet and through local computer networks, it can multiply through removable storage devices such as memory sticks and floppy disks. Because it is hidden, it is hard to detect and it can be spread to other computers, unknowingly, by the computer user.
A computer virus works similarly to viruses (like the flu) that make a person sick. Some are very destructive while others cause minor irritations, making your computer seem ‘under the weather’. Macro Viruses, Email Viruses and Trojan Horses are examples of terms used to describe different types of computer viruses. You will be able to control the security of your computer when you understand the fundamentals about computer viruses.