Article Categories    •   Classroom Teaching    •   Teaching With Technology

What's The Deal With Computer Viruses

What is A Computer Virus?

A virus is a program designed to corrupt other programs and alter the way those programs work. The impact of a virus can range from making your computer crash when a certain key or series of keys is pushed, to deleting important files, and to the extreme: possibly rendering your computer inoperable.

Before getting all worked up about viruses, it's important to understand the limitations of a computer virus. Viruses are programs that infect other programs, or files containing macros (a series of commands grouped together to automate a complex series of tasks) such as Microsoft Word files, Microsoft Excel files and executable files. Computer viruses cannot, do not, and will not infect plain text files, such as e-mail messages and Web pages, nor can they infect pictures or chat groups. Virus programmers are getting better at transmitting viruses, some new high tech viruses can exploit the security system of popular e-mail programs and activate and begin replicating without the user even being aware.

The name "virus" is appropriate, because like a biological virus, a computer virus is small, makes copies of itself, and cannot exist without a host. (It's also a catchier name than Parasitic Self-Replicating Program.)

>Next Page