Effects of a Computer Virus
August 8, 2011 | IT
For any computer user who has suffered the effects of a computer virus he or she will know the annoyance and trouble which can be caused. A computer virus is a contagious program attached within another program or e-mail, which will self replicate and affect the integrity of the computer and stored data.
The virus can spread between computers and between differing organizations even by the act of opening or executing an affected file.
A commonly known type of computer virus is the Trojan horse. This has the effect of being a program which appears to have a valid function, but in fact damages other stored programs when executed. A computer worm is another highly invasive virus which commonly invades from another computer network. It replicates itself, thus avoiding deletion, and affects the operation of the host computer.
The computer can become affected by a virus from a number of sources which frequently include. –
- The execution of an infected program.
- Opening a file which has been infected.
- Using a USB or CD which may have been infected from another source (do a scan before loading!)
- Software which is not original but has been pirated, this includes pirated DVD movies!
- Information attached to e-mails.
Computer viruses do not have any effect on written document files or compressed files unless the file was infected prior to being compressed. There are some types of virus which will discriminate in their effect. That is, they may be specifically targeted to invade either a Macintosh, or a Windows system.
It is worthwhile having a good anti-virus program installed on the hard drive and doing a full scan of all systems on a regular basis.