Talking about that a computer got a “virus” thirty years ago it could sound a little strange for the common of the people, but nowadays, that is a term so known that nobody would be surprised. Computers viruses are a current and serious problem that could mean a total disaster for big enterprises, economical systems or any institution working with a software program.
A computing virus is a computer program that was created with bad intentions and that can be copied itself, infecting as many computers as it has the possibility of reaching them through internet access. The general way of how a virus is spread is by e-mails and downloads, for instance, when suddenly appears an e-mail in your inbox of someone you do not know or some fantastic offer attached that is not easy to believe (spam), or downloading a movie or a MP3 archive, where the most common virus that your PC can get is the one called “Trojan” which can damage it very fast. Also, it is important to pay attention when a Pendrive or any type of memory stick is connected to a computer that is used for many people (as an USB connection in a “Cyber café”) because you could be getting a virus that will infect your own PC later, damaging, corrupting or deleting all the information that you have saved, reaching your hard disk at worst. The first computer virus was created twenty five years ago, a young man of fifteen years old called Richard Skrenta invented the first computer virus which was called “Elk cloner” on an Apple computer. He started this modern times problem as a joke that ended with a huge issue, infecting many systems through computer games. Today, there are many types of computer viruses, all of them could cause serious problems to the PCs if they had no way to prevent them, then the only solution would be to format it. Some of the current viruses present on the internet are: Resident virus, Direct action virus, Overwrite virus, Boot virus, Macro virus, Worms, etc. They are many more and everyday are appearing other ones with other ways of damaging your computer system. The reason why a virus is created is not really clear, but the only reason could be the pleasure of erasing someone’s vital information.
Protecting yourself of viruses is not a difficult task nowadays, for this mission there are antivirus softwares used to prevent, detect and delete viruses. These are an excellent system for keeping your PC and your information out of danger. They function very well if you use them properly; they need to be updated in order to save from harm your computer effectively. The antiviruses can scan your computer looking for some virus that you may not detect, scan you Pendrive, and detect when a webpage is highly dangerous for catching some virus. These useful softwares are the single answer to all the virus problems, it is a help that none of us can live without if you want to maintain save all your virtual files.
