What a computer virus is, is a program on a computer that can duplicate itself and infest a computer in a matter of minutes.

The term virus is misused a lot of the time. Many people think of a virus as the same as malware, adware, spyware or browser hijackers. Although these programs can destroy a computers software and make life miserable, are not the same as a virus. They can’t reproduce themselves in the same way that a virus can.

A virus has the capability to transfer itself and spread accross a network, going from computer to computer. It does this in an executable code which enables it to transfer itself. It can be sent from accross a network or another way in which a virus can be spread is to have a user transfer the virus with a removable device. A flash drive would be a very common way in which this can happen. If a file gets onto a server or a computer that is sharing files with others, the pace at which it can spread is very rapid.

Once other computers start to access the shared files, the virus is transferred to the new machine. Other types of things such as a trojan horse or a worm are often mistaken for a virus as well. Although these are destructive as well, they are not a virus. A virus can sometimes hurt a computers system files and ruin performance to the point of it not even being functional anymore. Many times users have from one to many virus on their computer and never even realize that they are infected.

It would be very possible to have numerous ones and never really notice any difference. There are certain types of virus out there that don’t really harm anything. They simply reproduce themselves over and over. For a virus to be able to reproduce itself, it must be allowed to execute itself and further be allowed to write iteslf into memory. For this very reaseon you will find many virus attatched to legitimate programs such as office files or email attatchments. Once a user has clicked on the infected file, the virus executes itself and the user’s computer is now infected. If a user becomes infected with one or more virus programs, the best thing that they can do is call a computer tech to come help them with the removal or the virus.