What is Computer Virus?
A computer virus is an executable program. Depend on the nature of a virus, it may cause damage of your hard disk contents, and/or interfere normal operation of your computer.
By definition, a virus program is able to replicate itself. This means that the virus multiplies on a computer by making copies of itself. This replication is intentional; it is part of the virus program. In most cases, if a file that contains virus is executed or copied onto another computer, then that computer will also be “infected” by the same virus.
A virus can be introduced to a computer system along with any software program. For Internet users, this threat can come from downloading files through FTP (file transfer protocol), or referencing email attachments. (Please refer to our web page on Handling Email’s File Attachments for details.)
When a virus is introduced to a computer system, it can attach itself to, or sometimes even replace, an existing program. Thus, when the user runs the program in question, the virus is also executed. This usually happens without the user being aware of it.
A virus program contains instructions to initiate some sort of “event” that affects the infected computer. Each virus has an unique event associated with it. These events and their effects can range from harmless to devastating. For examples:
- An annoying message appearing on the computer screen.
- Reduced memory or disk space.
- Modification of data.
- Files overwritten or damaged.
- Hard drive erased.