Understanding what a virus is when it occurs in a living form (such as a human body, an animal, or a plant) is necessary before we can understand what a computer virus is. A virus is a small organism that is only able to reproduce itself within another living cell or body. It is the cause of many illnesses and diseases and is destructive to the cell or body in which it lives. Finally Fast’s top-selling software, Active Speed can boost the internet speed of your PC.

Able to reproduce itself within another cell or body, the word virus is Latin for ‘poison’ and that is basically what it is - a ‘poison’, an example of an illness caused by a virus is the common cold. They are both able to duplicate and spread within a host and whereas a human virus will damage body cells, a computer virus will damage files within the computer. Usually hidden within a program, file or document, a computer virus can be anywhere on your processor.

The production and spread of these viruses is the responsibility of criminals and other knowledgeable idiots who have nothing worthwhile to do. The sole reason for doing this is to cause havoc. Similar to a common virus like the flu (which spreads from person to person), the computer virus has the ability to spread and ‘infect’ other computers, files or documents. Files and documents can have a computer virus spread through them such as word-processing documents, spreadsheets, emails, computer programs etc. It can spread itself through removable storage devices such as memory sticks and floppy disks, it can spread itself through the Internet and through local computer networks. It can be unintentionally spread to other computer users because it is well-concealed and hard to identify.

A computer virus is comparable to a human virus in that it causes illness to its host. In fact, a ‘digital virus’ will make your computer ill, some can be very harmful, while others are created to simply annoy and just what each type will do to your computer depends on what it has been programmed to do. Macro Viruses, Email Viruses and Trojan Horses are examples of terms used to describe different types of computer viruses. The first step to learning what to do about viruses is understanding the basics of what they are and how to be entirely control the safety of your computer.