What Is A Computer Virus?
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. Only able to reproduce itself within another living cell or body, a virus is a small organism. Body cells can be damaged as a result of a viral infection and an individual will become ill as consequence.
Viruses are toxins and are therefore toxic to the human cells, they divide within the body causing illnesses such as chickenpox and German measles. How does this relate to computers? 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. The sole reason for doing this is to cause havoc. 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). Computer viruses can affect every part of the computer preventing it from working properly. It can spread itself through removable storage devices such as memory sticks and floppy disks, it can spread itself through the Internet and through local computer networks. Because it is hidden, it is hard to detect and it can be spread to other computers, unknowingly, by the computer user.
Akin to a human virus that makes a person feel unwell, the computer virus works in a similar fashion within a computer. In fact, a ‘digital virus’ will make your computer ill, some can be very harmful, while others are created to simply annoy and just what each type will do to your computer depends on what it has been programmed to do. Examples of terms used to describe different types of computer viruses include 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.