Before we can comprehend how a computer virus works, it is important to realise what a virus does when it attacks the human body. A small organism, a virus is only able to reproduce itself within another living cell or body. It is typically harmful to the cell or body in which it lives, and is the cause of many illnesses and diseases.
The word virus literally means ‘poison’ in Latin and that is basically what it is - a ‘poison’, able to reproduce itself within another cell or body and an example of an illness caused by a virus is hepatitis. In relation to computers, a computer virus is a harmful computer program which is able to duplicate and spread itself within a computer or computer network and will damage files or the computer itself. Usually the computer virus is hidden within a program, file or document which means it can be anywhere on your pc.
There are some clever individuals who have nothing worthwhile to do with their time that create and spread these computer viruses. Causing havoc is the main reason for doing this. The computer virus has the ability to spread and ‘contaminate’ other computers, files or documents, similar to a common virus like the flu (which spreads from person to person). Computer viruses can affect every part of the computer preventing it from working properly. It can spread itself through the Internet and through local computer networks, as well as through removable storage devices such as memory sticks and floppy disks. It can be unknowingly spread to other computers by the computer user since it is hidden and therefore hard to detect.
A computer virus works similarly to viruses (like the flu) that make a person sick. The amount of damage caused by a ‘digital virus’ is dependant upon what it has been instructed to do. Macro Viruses, Email Viruses and Trojan Horses. You will be able to control the security of your computer when you understand the fundamentals about computer viruses.
