How do viruses spread?
Viruses can spread by diskette, network, email or Internet downloads. Occasionally, they are accidentally spread within packaged software products. Viruses cannot spread on their own and must be executed by someone to cause damage. Boot sector viruses spread when a user inadvertently boots his/her workstation from an infected floppy disk. Macro viruses spread by the simple opening of an infected document. Mass mailing viruses use email to rapidly propagate, usually employing deceptive tactics to persuade the recipient to open the infected message.
Viruses today are typically spread via email, but can also be spread by sharing disks, network drives, or Internet downloads. Viruses cannot spread on their own and must be run (or executed) by someone to cause damage. Boot sector viruses spread when a user inadvertently boots their PC from an infected disk. Macro viruses can spread by simply opening an infected document.
Viruses can be spread via floppy disks or CDs, email attachments, or in material downloaded from the Web, although the majority of viruses are spread through email. When the attachment is opened, the virus is activated and the computer becomes infected.Often, viruses are programmed to spread themselves by emailing a copy of the attachment to all the other email addresses in an infected computer’s address book.
There are only two ways for your computer to get a virus: You load the virus onto your computer through an infected floppy, CD-ROM, or other storage medium. The virus arrives by a downloaded file, email attachment, or other method from the Internet or a network. At this point, an infected file is on your computer’s hard drive. But remember, your computer will only become infected if you launch or view the file, or run the infected program. So an important tip is to always scan new files for viruses before you use them. A PC is infected with a boot sector virus (or partition sector virus) if it is (re-)booted (usually by accident) from an infected floppy disk in drive A. Boot Sector/MBR infectors are the most commonly found viruses, and cannot normally spread across a network. These (normally) spread by accident via floppy disks which may come from virtually any source: unsolicited demonstration disks, brand-new software (even from reputable sources), disks used on your PC by salesmen o
