- The first computer viruses were introduced into the computer world in the later 1980s. As personal computers became more popular, as well as more affordable, viruses began to become more common, as well as more complex. Viruses spread to include trojans, worms and even email introduced a new type of computer virus to the market. With the birth of internet, computer viruses began to spread like wildfire through every nation and continent.
- General viruses work by attaching themselves to real programs. A general virus is so small that in most cases its victims have no idea it is hidden within their downloaded program. As the user opens their download program to install it, the virus also opens and installs secretly. The virus then uses the computers internal system to replicate itself and hide throughout the computer. Viruses can do everything from hijack your operating system, to completely wiping your hard disk.
- Email viruses have become more common as users move from the postal system to their personal computers to send correspondence. An email virus works by hiding in email attachments. Some email viruses will only download if you click on the attachments. However, virus makers have developed more intelligent viruses in recent years that will download on a users computer just by opening the email. Once opened the virus replicates by sending copies of itself to all the email addresses on your contact list.
- Trojans are very similar to general viruses except instead of attaching themselves to a downloaded computer program, the pretend to be a computer program that they are not. This is quite common with users who frequently download music, videos, and games from untrustworthy resources on the web. When the user installs the program, or opens the file, the trojans installs and infects the computer. Some trojans can completely delete your hard drive.
- Worms are viruses that work directly within a computer network. When one user downloads the worm onto their computer, the worm works to spread itself to any connected computers on the same network. The worm continues to spread until there are no more connected computer left to infect. This type of virus is especially dangerous in businesses that use large computer networks.
