Difference between revisions of "Virus"
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| + | == Viru Synopsis == | ||
A virus (from the Latin noun virus, meaning toxin or poison) is a microscopic particle that can infect the cells of a biological organism. Viruses can replicate themselves only by infecting a host cell. This is a major medical issue until [[Tech level]] 10. In computer terminology, the word virus is used in the same sense as the biological equivalent. | A virus (from the Latin noun virus, meaning toxin or poison) is a microscopic particle that can infect the cells of a biological organism. Viruses can replicate themselves only by infecting a host cell. This is a major medical issue until [[Tech level]] 10. In computer terminology, the word virus is used in the same sense as the biological equivalent. | ||
| − | + | == Computer Virus == | |
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A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. The original may modify the copies or the copies may modify themselves, as occurs in a metamorphic virus. A virus can only spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to the uninfected computer, for instance by a user sending it over a network, comm link or carrying it on a removable medium such as a disk, crystal, or removable drive. Viruses are sometimes confused with computer worms. A worm, however, can spread itself to other computers without needing to be transferred as part of a host. | A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. The original may modify the copies or the copies may modify themselves, as occurs in a metamorphic virus. A virus can only spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to the uninfected computer, for instance by a user sending it over a network, comm link or carrying it on a removable medium such as a disk, crystal, or removable drive. Viruses are sometimes confused with computer worms. A worm, however, can spread itself to other computers without needing to be transferred as part of a host. | ||
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{{Wikipedia|Computer_Virus}} | {{Wikipedia|Computer_Virus}} | ||
| − | == Other | + | == Virus: Other Eras == |
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[[Virus/TNE|The New Era]] | [[Virus/TNE|The New Era]] | ||
{{LEN|V}} | {{LEN|V}} | ||
Revision as of 04:23, 9 January 2015
Viru Synopsis
A virus (from the Latin noun virus, meaning toxin or poison) is a microscopic particle that can infect the cells of a biological organism. Viruses can replicate themselves only by infecting a host cell. This is a major medical issue until Tech level 10. In computer terminology, the word virus is used in the same sense as the biological equivalent.
Computer Virus
A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. The original may modify the copies or the copies may modify themselves, as occurs in a metamorphic virus. A virus can only spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to the uninfected computer, for instance by a user sending it over a network, comm link or carrying it on a removable medium such as a disk, crystal, or removable drive. Viruses are sometimes confused with computer worms. A worm, however, can spread itself to other computers without needing to be transferred as part of a host.
A computer virus reproduces by making (possibly modified) copies of itself in the computer's memory, storage, or over a network. This is similar to the way a biological virus works.
Some viruses are programmed to damage the computer by damaging programs, deleting files, or reformatting the hard disk. More serious viruses take control of their host systems to perform some unwanted tasks, these are more properly directed attacks with the virus as the mechanism, as the results would need to be tailor made for the target system (e.g. a particular mark of Planetary Orbit Control Software see Ulane Hoax). Others are not designed to do any damage, but simply replicate themselves and perhaps make their presence known by presenting text, video, or audio messages. Even these benign viruses can create problems for the computer user. They typically take up computer memory used by legitimate programs. As a result, they often cause erratic behavior and can result in system crashes. In addition, many viruses are bug-ridden, and these bugs may lead to system crashes and data loss.
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This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Computer_Virus. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of Wikipedia is available under the Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. |