Virus
Characteristics of Virus
One fundamental characteristic of a computer virus is that it is executable. Either the virus executes itself or attaches its code to another file to get executed. Without execution capability, it cannot harm and will gain no importance.
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Another fundamental characteristic of a computer virus is that it replicates. A virus infects other programs generally by attaching its copies to those programs
A virus can transmit from one computer to another through an infected file or an infected disk.
What does Virus do?
Some viruses may cause fewer problems like displaying notorious messages on the screen, whereas some may cause serious dangers like formatting hard disk, causing permanent destruction of data and thereby making the system completely unusable and irreparable.
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Examples of notable viruses:
ILOVEYOU
Nimda
How to prevent Viruses?
1)Keep everything up to date; software updates include features designed to withstand the latest security threats.
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2)Use anti-virus software; it can identify and eliminate the threat before you were even aware of it.
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3)Beware of phishing emails; don’t download files from emails that you don’t trust; files could be infected with a virus.