What is a Computer Virus

A computer virus is much like our biological viruses. A computer virus is a produce of the information age. A virus is man made and is also known as a piece of code with set instructions, once the conditions are met that cause the code to start working, then those set instructions are carried out. A well written computer virus can do anything from delete a simple file to the reformatting of an entire hard drive.

To get a better understanding of how this works we will need to go back to the first sentance in this article. A biological Virus. Think of a foreign body in our bodies, if the foreign body is strong enough and our antibodies are not, then that virus will take over, think common cold, spread via touch or air.

Once this virus is inside of us, we become weak, our noses start to run and our bodies begin to hurt, now in the information age, we do not feel the physical strains on our computers, but we do notice them, if you know where to look and still remember how your computer was when you first bought it.

One thing to know is that a computer virus if written to do so can attach itself to all your programs, replicating itself and attaching to more programs.

How does a Computer virus get passed from one computer to another?

This is actually quite easy for a virus to do. Think of your emails for example. Someone (not necessarily you) can hack into your email accounts and start sending out malicious pieces of code or viruses. But unfortunately this isn’t the only way. Below are a few more ways in which a virus can be passed between computer to computer.

Installing Software

This for some could be a concern. For others, they would probably say something along the lines of ” i dont use software illegally” or ” i use a trusted source” in fairness, these individuals do have a point and this type of software is more circulated in certain circles, however, please note that this can happen if we do not read the license agreements, or pay close attention to the installation wizards of our software.

Downloading from the Internet

Now this can happen to anyone, literally. This can be especially problematic in when you see a free game or download a toolbar which you think will be beneficial.

Email

So easy to use, no waiting days for mail. It is great, i like the fact that i do something and i know within seconds what i wanted to achieve is done. But unfortunately email is a big part in the passing of computer virus as many of you are already aware. If you are not aware, please take note because long are the days of “it wont happen to me” or “it only happens to others”. So becareful when you open spam emails or email attachments.

General Internet Surfing

This is also a concern which is why most antivirus software developers now include some sort of an internet security suite or if you do not have one installed, please do so as soon as possible.

The majority of the cases in this area is if you visit a suspicious website or worse yet, a website that looks fine and is actually infected.

Sharing photos, music and files

Remembering how a computer virus attaches itself to a program, a computer virus can also attach itself to our photos, music and files and when we share such files, we run the risk of infecting others, even family and friends.