Web & Internet

It is necessary to understand what a virus is when it occurs in a living form (such as a human body, an animal, or a plant) before understanding what a computer virus is. Microorganisms such as viruses, are only able to divide within another living cell. Poor health occurs as a result of a viral infection and body cells are destroyed or damaged as a result.

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. Well basically, a computer virus is a harmful computer program which will damage files or your computer, and which is able to duplicate and spread itself within a computer or computer network. The computer virus can be concealed in a program, file or document and could be anywhere on your laptop.

These viruses are generated and spread to other people’s computers by criminals, and other gifted idiots with nothing better to do with their time. Causing havoc is the main reason for doing this. Files and documents can be severely damaged when a computer virus enters the computer, similar to the effects of influenza upon the human body. A computer virus can spread itself through files and documents; 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.

Well, it works similarly to viruses (like the flu) that make a person sick. A ‘digital virus’ can be very harmful, while others are created to simply annoy and will literally make your computer ’sick’ but just what each type will do to your computer depends on what it has been programmed to do. Some words used to identify various viruses are Macro Viruses, Email Viruses and Trojan Horses. Understanding the basics of what viruses are is the first step to learning what to do about them, and how to be completely in control of your computer’s security.