6. Viruses

We hear so much about computer viruses, but what are they really?

A computer virus is a software program that can make copies of itself, that can cause mild or serious damage to data or programs stored on your computer.

Some viruses can be very harmful and automatically send copies of themselves to every person in your e-mail address book, without your knowledge.

You can get a virus by running an infected file on your computer. The virus will then copy and attach itself to hundreds of files you always have on your computer. These include your data files and the essential system files. This makes it very difficult to remove

Viruses can be sent to you via e-mail attachments. They can be hidden in spreadsheet or word documents. They can also be unwittingly downloaded from Internet sites that carry pirated music and movie files.

Viruses can be prevented by taking sensible precautions, including:

• Using a commercial anti-virus software to scan your system daily
• Update the scanning software regularly
• Not allowing people to load unknown files on to your system
• Not opening suspicious emails or attachments from strangers.
• Avoiding software from unreliable sources