What is a computer virus?

A computer virus is a software program capable of reproducing itself and usually capable ofcausing great harm to files or other programs on the same computer.

What are the signs of a computer virus?

Whether you use a personal computer or work on a company mainframe you should know the most common signs of computer virus activity. These include:

Applications that don't work properly. Disks can't be accessed. Printing doesn't work correctly. Pull-down menus are distorted. File size changes for no apparent reason. Date of last access does not match date of last use. An increase in the number of files on the system when nothing has been added Uncommanded disk drive activity. Unusual error messages. System slows down, freezes or crashes.

Answer from from Small Business Newz Website

www.smallbusinessnewz.com/smallbusinessnewz-13-20030618ComputerVirusWarningSigns.html

For more infomation on viruses check this website

www.vmyths.com/

There are a number of virus protection software, from free software from the web to software from companies like Norton, Norton Anti-virus which cost around $100.00 from a software seller, also computer magazines like PC World Will sometimes have anti virus programs on the cover CD ROM with special offer on updates and virus definitions (see below).

Anti virus programs must be kept up to date from the software providers website or by another means, with new program updates and virus definitions because new viruses are being released sometimes on a daily basis, most of the companies that make anti virus software have a team of software developers looking for new viruses and writting updates to the software to cope with the new viruses.

Information from

CSC 4735 (Computers, Society, and Ethics) University of Colorado at Denver