Virus


A virus is a computer program which could copy and spread itself automatically. The spreading is done by making copies of it's own and saving it at another place. As this normally happens without control or even knowledge of the computer users, viruses could spread widely within very short periods.

Most viruses above the spreading abilities have some extra functionality which could be almost anything the programmer of a virus wishes to implement. Therefore there are many viruses which are capable of spying or destroying the data on infected computers.

To protect a computer from a virus infection there is certain software such as virus scanners (which detect and delete viruses) or firewalls (which try to log and block the communication and spreading of viruses). Very effective protection could also be derived from special hardware such as Internet routers.


Back