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What are computer viruses?
If you are an amatuer user of the computer (are there any left?) or an avid user, you would have by now come across the word, Virus. You would also be vaguely familiar with the havoc a computer virus can unleash, in many cases, destroying the data stored on your PC or mobile device.
But what exactly are these viruses? Curious? Well, most of 'em are basically code written in a destructive way, or rather, to destroy. There is good code & bad code. Virus belong to the latter. They can harm your data, your computer hardware, even spy on you. The code attaches itself to a program or file & starts to spread from one computer to another or from one mobile to the other.This can happen in several ways - through emails, chats, exchange of pen drives,& so on. The spread can be online or through physical contact ( like exchange of drives).
There are 3 types of "viruses", all of which are normally clubbed under the nomenclature- virus. The actual virus, the worm & the Trojan Horse. Computer viruses can range from the mildy annoying to outright destructive. Here, someone has to share the infected file for the virus to spread.
A worm is a software that will copy itself from one PC to the other but unlike a virus, it spread automatically. Most of the times, a worm will initially take control of files that are responsible for transferring info. It will then start spreading to other PCs using these files. The other danger is of the worm multipyling. Worms even allow "external" uses to get into your PC.
The Trojan Horse comes hidden in programs that you need to download. The TH is also a computer program but disguised as some other program. What may look as a "free" download actually may contain a Trojan Horse. The latter comes disguised in such software. Once it is downloaded, it quickly moves into your files & starts spying on your activities, passing information on to 3rd parties.
Of course, like in the Real World, these "viruses" can be tackled effectively, sometimes using software like an "anti-virus' program& occasionally even common sense. For example, do not open emails from unknown sources, however tempting they may read, that is common sense. Also, install a robust anti-virus program on your PC that will be able to prevent them getting into your system.
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Learning Curve Virus 30-05-2011
