What Is A Computer Virus?

Before understanding what a computer virus is, 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). Only able to reproduce itself within another living cell or body, a virus is a small organism. It is typically harmful to the cell or body in which it lives, and is the cause of many illnesses and diseases.

The word virus literally means ‘poison’ in Latin and that is basically what it is - a ‘poison’, able to reproduce itself within another cell or body and an example of an illness caused by a virus is hepatitis. There are many similarities between human viruses and computer viruses. The virus can be anywhere on your computer, concealed within a program, file or document.

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. This activity’s sole purpose is to create trouble and damage for every pc user. The computer virus has the ability to spread and ‘contaminate’ other computers, files or documents, similar to a common virus like the flu (which spreads from person to person). The computer can be prevented from working correctly by a computer virus. It can spread itself through the Internet and through local computer networks, as well as through removable storage devices such as memory sticks and floppy disks. It can be unintentionally spread to other computer users because it is well-concealed and hard to identify.

A computer virus works similarly to viruses (like the flu) that make a person sick. 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. Macro Viruses, Email Viruses and Trojan Horses. It will be easier to protect your computer against viruses, once you have an understanding of the workings of computer viruses.