background info on viruses in simple words
What is a virus
A virus is NOT a small bug or insect that has crawled into your PC when you were asleep.
It is a program, created by a PERSON, with the intention to manipulate your computer's system,
so that it won't work like it should.
Who makes viruses?
Some people point fingers at hackers as creators of viruses. Even though hackers did
create the first few viruses, nowadays any competent programmer in a computer language can
create a simple virus. It is not hard to do. There is even a conspiracy theory that anti-virus
manufacturers create new viruses so that their products can sell.
What are the probabilities that a virus will infect my computer
VERY VERY HIGH, especially if you work on the computer at two places (i.e. at school and at home), if you use the Internet
and if you buy pirated programs. In fact, it is almost impossible for you not to get infected at least once in your computer's lifetime.
What can they do to my system?
It depends , on the kind of virus that has infected your system. Some viruses do nothing for some time and then the disrupt on a certain date, like a time bomb.
Some viruses corrupt your data, lock your documents with passwords or delete your hard drives. For more info on this, go to the section about types of viruses.
What can I do if a virus attacks my computer?
You can get an anti virus software and install it on your computer. The anti virus can clean the computer from viruses.
The downside is that the anti virus software on the market cannot clean all the viruses that may crop up in your PC. This is because by the time the product reaches your home, another few hundred new viruses have been created.
The virus creator is always one step ahead of the anti-virus software, because if you don't know the disease, you can't get rid of it. Prevention is better than cure, though.
How do I prevent viruses from infecting my computer?
Because the likelihood of viruses getting in your system is high, what you should do is get an anti - virus program and install it on your computer.
What this program can do, if it is a good one, is that it will automatically scan any file you open for any viruses, and prompts you to clean it.
This way, you can rest assured that the file is 99% safe and won't have any viruses. Also, you can get virus updates from the Internet so that
your program can always trace the latest viruses.