What is a computer virus?

First of all, it is important to know what a virus does when it attacks the human body before we can fully comprehend how a computer virus works. Only able to reproduce itself within another living cell or body, a virus is a small organism. Poor health occurs as a result of a viral infection and body cells are destroyed or damaged as a result.

Able to reproduce itself within another cell or body, the word virus is Latin for 'poison' and that is basically what it is - a 'poison', an example of an illness caused by a virus is the common cold. Well basically, a computer virus is a harmful computer program which will damage files or your computer, and which is able to duplicate and spread itself within a computer or computer network. The computer virus can be anywhere on your pc, usually hidden 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. Causing havoc is the main reason for doing this. Similar to a common virus like the flu (which spreads from person to person), the computer virus has the ability to spread and 'infect' other computers, files or documents. Computer viruses can affect every part of the computer preventing it from working properly. As well as through removable storage devices such as memory sticks and floppy disks, it can spread itself through the Internet and through local computer networks. As it is concealed and difficult to identify, it can be inadvertently passed on to other computer users.

Akin to a human virus that makes a person feel unwell, the computer virus works in a similar fashion within a computer. The amount of damage caused by a 'digital virus' is dependant upon what it has been instructed to do. In order to describe different types of computer viruses a wide variety of names have been generated, some examples are as follows : You will be able to control the security of your computer when you understand the fundamentals about computer viruses.