Computer viruses: Description & Prevention

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. Viruses are microorganisms that can only multiply within another living cell. It is typically harmful to the cell or body in which it lives, and is the cause of many illnesses and diseases. Take the finally fast free performance test to find out how to make your pc virus free.

Viruses are toxins and are therefore toxic to the human cells, they divide within the body causing illnesses such as chickenpox and German measles. 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. Usually hidden within a program, file or document, a computer virus can be anywhere on your processor.

There are some clever individuals who have nothing worthwhile to do with their time that create and spread these computer viruses. Creating trouble and damage for every pc user is the sole purpose of this activity. Other computers, files or documents can be ‘infected’ by the computer virus, similar to a common virus like the flu (which spreads from one person to another). 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. It is hard to detect because it is hidden and it can be unwittingly spread to other computers by the computer user.

What does a computer virus do precisely? Some are very destructive while others cause minor irritations, making your computer seem ‘under the weather’. Some words used to identify various viruses are Macro Viruses, Email Viruses and Trojan Horses. It will be easier to protect your computer against viruses, once you have an understanding of the workings of computer viruses.