Computer viruses

The age of information has significantly made connecting with other even faster with
emergence of computer and internet. Human interaction has transformed with
information including data, pictures, emails, programs etc. being dispatched within
milliseconds from one part of the world to another.

But every technology howsoever secure and protected does have some loopholes.
So is the network of computers, which can also communicate harmful programs
unknowing to the knowledge, and intent of the users of the computer system. Such
an attack is called as virus attack and is an electronic infection affecting your system
and corrupting useful information.

A computer virus is essentially a software program that travels from one system to
another connected on a common network. Computer operations like use of email
system, stored information on the hard disk, accessibility to other resources on the
desktop can get difficult or corrupted after a virus attack as the program renders
some or the other functionality in your computer unusable.

Most often it is email attachments with unusual extensions that are used to spread
such viruses. Any funny images, greetings, audio files that come in as attachments
from suspicious sources should never be opened as they may be viruses. Not all
malware that affect your computer are viruses. Some like adware and spyware
cannot reproduce and thus cannot be termed as computer viruses. Active threats
affecting your computer are generally trojans or worms and not viruses. A virus is
able to damage the information and cause harm to your computer only after it is able
to execute the code and write information to the memory. Code injection wherein
executable files have some malicious codes written inside is one common way in
which virus is sent over to spread on multiple computers over internet. It is the very
nature of the virus to multiply by replication.

Even FTP for downloading can lead to a virus attack which can come maliciously
along with an otherwise harmless software program. A virus attaches itself to an
executable program so that it gets executed without the user even knowing it.

Events that can result from virus attack can range from harmless to extremely
destructive.
Irritable messages on the computer screen, pop-up windows that continue to come
and not go even when trying to exit, data modified on your computer, corrupted or
erased hard disk, damage to files etc. are some symptoms of virus attack.

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Since the use of internet cannot be stopped and you can also not determine if the
information downloaded contained any viruses, it is advisable to use credible anti-
virus software with latest updates. It warns you about any threats that a file or any
information downloaded from the internet or a copied over infected file contains.

Removing a virus and undoing the damage it causes to your computer can be more
stressful than preventing attack by using strong anti-virus program that can detect
malware as well as Trojans, worms and viruses and also eliminate them before
replication. Effective anti-viruses are available which help to detect and remove
viruses that may attack your computer.