Understanding Computer Viruses
So what exactly is a computer virus? The technical definition is, a malicious software program designed to do damage to your computer system by deleting files or even taking over your PC to launch attacks on other systems. A virus attacks your computer when you launch an infected software program, launching a “payload” that often is catastrophic.
How Computer Viruses Work
Many viruses are hidden in the code of legitimate software programs—programs that have been infected, that is. When the host program is launched, the code for the virus is executed and the virus loads itself into your computer’s memory. From there, the virus code searches for other programs on your system that it can infect; if it ...
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