All about Computer Viruses About Computer Viruses All you need to know about Computer Viruses All you ever need to know about Computer Viruses The truth about Computer Viruses Computer Viruses - origins and creators
Computer viruses, those pesky pieces of software that range in effect from a nuisance to something that can erase your hard drive, have been with us since the eighties. What are they, how to the work, and who creates them? Those are the topics of this article.
Computer viruses are software programs that perform tasks or functions like any other program. Its uniqueness lies in its other two characteristics and these set it apart from other programs. First, it has a way to create copies of itself or its effects - which accounts for its name. Secondly, it knows how to use the contents of the operating system to achieve unintended functions not normally within the authority of any application on any computer.
Viruses work simply by doing the following:
1. They must first get onto your system; normally it piggybacks its way onto your computer as an attachment to an email message or embedded inside another file.
2. The virus lodges itself where intended and then produces its desired affects. This might be to first reproduce itself or simply to begin the execution of its programmed plan - perhaps to start deleting records on your hard drive or sending itself to others whose addresses are in your email out-basket.
What allows a virus to function is a faulty operating system whose proper functionality should prevent both its access to your computer in the first place and its execution thereafter. What is at the heart of its ability to function is the weakness of the environment within which it is designed to function - a personal computer. Microsoft, or its precursors, did not include typical job management functions in its original version of MS-DOS. They did this because it was assumed that job management - the task of determining if a job should be run, was authorized to be executed, etc. - on a personal computer would take place in the mind of the user (owner) of the computer. This small omission has allowed unauthorized programs to wreak havoc in personal computers ever since. If the OS worked correctly it would both prevent virus access and its execution. They get on it now because there is nothing to prevent them from doing so. After they arrive on your computer - i.e. when they come in contact with the operating system - they execute.
Computer viruses are created by people who do it for fun, for the challenge or bragging rights, or because they enjoy watching disaster.
Since viruses may corrupt your windows registry you may have to fix it yourself. There is commercially available registry software that you can use to perform the necessary registry fix tasks and you can achieve the necessary Registry Repair.
Author Resource:
Author Resource:-> James Roberts is Senior Article Editor for What-Why-How researching and writing on numerous topics including how to use registry software and best ways to fix registry that work fast!
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")