We here at Seymour Computer Repair know that nearly every computer user has heard of a computer virus. Furthermore, nearly all of these same people have had to deal with these vile foes first hand, at some time. However, despite the ubiquitous nature of the computer virus not many people know exactly what it is that they are dealing with. That is our lesson today: to take a brief look at the computer virus and see why it can create problems with your system.

Computer Repair Vancouver believes that the easiest way to imagine a computer virus is to look at its biological equivalent, the virus. A virus is an entity which infects cells within the human body, often manipulating an individuals DNA, in order that it may copy itself. Just like a biological virus, a computer virus attaches itself to something in order to make copies of itself. So what does it attach itself to? The computer virus attaches itself to some other entity within your computer: typically a program or document. Think of a program or document as a bunch of letters which make up a bunch of sentences which make up a bunch of paragraphs (all information within the computer program or file). Now a virus changes this sequence of information, typically adding his own information to the mix.

The general process is as follows: you are surfing the internet and decide to download a particular program, a particular file, or even an email attachment. Unknowingly, this program, or file, or even email attachment has been infected with a virus. Basically, this means that someone has gone in and manually changed the information within the program or the file. Unfortunately, not knowing that you have downloaded an infected file, you open it or launch the program. It is at this point, as the program or file is executed by your computer, that the virus becomes active and has the ability to spread itself to other programs or files on your computer. Now, this is a very important point to remember. The virus can do no harm to you if it is located on another computer or even if it has been downloaded to your desktop. It is only when you execute the program or file it is attached to that it comes alive and can spread. This is why Computer Repair Vancouver recommends that you only download programs from reputable sites that you do not download files from websites whose trust you are somewhat uncertain of. A virus relies upon you, the computer user, to help transmit it to your computer. This is contrasted by the computer worm which actually attempts to jump across computer networks (infecting one computer after another). It is also important to remember that viruses can be transferred on other forms of electronic media including CD's, DVD's, external hard drives and USB keys (any place which allows you to store programs and files). Therefore, in general, be somewhat cautious when moving files onto your computer.

Despite saying this, computer viruses generally do not signify the end of your computers life. In fact, downloading anti-virus programs, whether free or commercial, can generally deal with the situation at hand. We hope you have found this brief outline of the computer virus useful and hope you will visit us at Computer Repair Vancouver where we provide a few antivirus software recommendations.