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 The most common forms of electronic infection are:
Viruses - A virus is a small piece of software that piggybacks on real programs. For example, a virus might attach itself to a program such as a spreadsheet program. Each time the spreadsheet program runs, the virus runs, too, and it has the chance to reproduce (by attaching to other programs) or wreak havoc.
E-mail viruses - An e-mail virus travels as an attachment to e-mail messages, and usually replicates itself by automatically mailing itself to dozens of people in the victim's e-mail address book. Some e-mail viruses don't even require a double-click - they launch when you view the infected message in the preview pane of your e-mail software.
Trojan horses - A Trojan horse is simply a computer program. The program claims to do one thing (it may claim to be a game) but instead does damage when you run it (it may erase your hard disk). Trojan horses have no way to replicate automatically.
Worms - A worm is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the network for another machine that has a specific security hole. It copies itself to the new machine using the security hole, and then starts replicating from there, as well.
When dealing with computer viruses, it’s important to remember that they are software. That means:
- Viruses can do anything other software can do.
- Viruses can delete files.
- Viruses can format hard drives or scramble the data on them.
- Viruses could communicate over a network.
- Viruses cannot do anything impossible for other software.
- Viruses cannot damage your CPU.
- Viruses cannot physically destroy your hard disk but they can scramble the data.
- Viruses cannot destroy your computer’s RAM.
- Viruses cannot cause your computer system to explode.
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