What is a computer virus or worm?
• Why is it called a virus? • How does a computer virus spread? • What sort of damage does a virus inflict on my computer? • How do I protect myself? • What do I do if my computer is infected? • What is a virus hoax? The answers to these questions are quite simple: • What is a computer virus or worm? A computer virus or worm is a program written by a malicious computer programmer/user who is out to harm the reputation of Microsoft or other large software companies and/or takes pleasure in knowing he/she will inflict damage to computers owned/used by many computer users. You cannot simply aquire a computer virus. The virus program is in most cases passed by email. You think it is from someone you know and trust so you open the email attachment(s) and voila… you are infected. • Why is it called a virus? Calling these programs viruses is simply a convenient term to use because they somewhat mimmick the actions of a virus in the human body by “spreading” quickly and doing damage, sometim
