What is a computer virus?

There are many types of viruses that infect people and there are also a lot of computer viruses that can infect your computer. These are software, and are often attached to other software or documents you might receive. When you run the virus's software or the file the virus has infected, the virus can infect your computer's software. There are many types of viruses and terms for them, but we'll use the general term 'virus' to make things easy. Like the flu virus, a computer virus must spread from host to host to survive. When we get the flu, we cough and sneeze, and tiny particles carrying the virus spread the flu to other people. With computer viruses, the virus is designed to spread from your computer to other computers. Here are some of the most common ways they spread: 1. Once the virus has infected your system, it may automatically send out emails containing more copies of the virus using the address book in your email program. This type of virus is called an Internet "Worm," bec ... more

A computer virus is a program designed to spread itself by first infecting executable files or the system areas of hard and floppy disks and then making copies of itself. Viruses usually operate without the knowledge or desire of the computer user. ... more

Strictly speaking, a computer virus is a program which reproduces its own code by attaching itself to other programs in such a way that the virus code is executed when the infected program is executed. However, more and more, the phrase "computer virus" is used to refer to any type of malicious software written deliberately to cause harm to someone's computer or to use that computer in an unauthorized way. ... ... more

A. Computer viruses are the most popular of malicious software, which is developed with the aim of compromising a computer system. The following list includes the main types of malicious software: • Virus: small program designed to self-replicate on other computers, like a biological virus that spreads from one person to another. It may hinder the proper operation of the infected computer. • Worm: uses a computer's resources to replicate and spread to other computers over the Internet. • Trojan horse: a seemingly legitimate program that executes harmful actions without a user's authorization. E.g.: a "back door" creates an entrance to a computer system from a distance. • Spyware: gathers personal information about a user without authorization and sends it to a third party. Malicious software first appeared at the same time as computers so it is not a new problem. However, the objectives of the perpetrators have changed. ... more

Virus Humor What are Computer Viruses? Computer viruses are programs written by "mean" people. These virus programs are placed into a commonly used program so that program will run the attached virus program as it boots, therefore, it is said that the virus "infects" the executable file or program. Executable files include Macintosh "system files" [such as system extensions, INITs and control panels] and application programs [such as word processing programs and spreadsheet programs.] Viruses work the same ways in Windows or DOS machines by infecting zip or exe files. A virus is inactive until you execute an infected program or application OR start your computer from a disk that has infected system files. Once a virus is active, it loads into your computer's memory and may save itself to your hard drive or copies itself to applications or system files on disks you use. Some viruses are programmed specifically to damage the data on your computer by corrupting programs, deleting files, o ... more

Viruses are programs that can easily effect your computer in many ways from simply being annoying to being highly destructive. They (1) have the ability to reproduce infecting other files or programs and (2) when run can carry out a range of annoying or damaging actions in your computer and across networks (including the Internet). ... more

A computer virus is program, (generally a small string of code) that is designed to replicate, and or “infect” other programs by modifying them or the environment in which they operate. Calls to these progams in turn cause the virus to evolve. Creation of these viruses and other problems continues to grow at an exponential rate and will only continue to get worse. ... more

A computer virus is a malicious computer program that infects the computer memory or hard disk. Some are comical and will simply change the display on your monitor while most are designed to do damage to the data on the computer. Boot sector viruses are especially damaging since they rewrite the information needed to start up and access your computer’s hard disk. Trojan horses are destructive programs disguised as something harmless like a game. Worms are programs written to replicate themselves until the computer’s memory or hard drive is completely used up at which time the computer crashes and becomes inoperable. A good place to learn more about computer viruses is Cert.'s web site (http://www.cert. ... more

A computer virus is not a disease. Rather, a computer virus is a computer program that happens to operate in a fashion similar to the way a real virus attacks the human body. Consequently, people call the program a "computer virus". Some malicious programs may also be labeled "computer worm" or "Trojan horse". The exact classification is based on how it attacks your computer. However, the general goal of all such programs is always the same, to take over your computer without your knowledge. When a real virus enters the human body it breaks into a cell and takes over the operation. The cell is forced to become a virus factory, making many copies of the virus. The newly-created viruses are released to find other cells, and the cycle starts, again. The body eventually detects the problem and creates antibodies that capture the viruses before they are able to attack new cells. The most common computer virus today is sent as an program attachment in email (see the Email section for questio ... more

A computer virus is a program that spreads itself by infecting files. When it runs, a virus will essentially wrap a file's data in its own code. When the file is opened, the virus runs its program first and then opens the file as initially requested. Some computer viruses are malicious, erasing files or locking up systems; others merely present a problem solely through the act of infecting other code. Standard viruses will spread only when an infected file is transferred from one computer to another. Computer worms are self-propagating and can not be considered ordinary viruses. Worms, unlike other viruses, don't infect files, but entire disks or computer systems. Because worms can't rely on file-to-file transfers to spread their code, they need to have a way of sending themselves to other computer systems and the most common way is via e-mail. Known as mass mailers due to the technique of spamming themselves to every address in the e-mail address book, such worms generally require a p ... more