What are viruses?
Viruses are too small to be seen by the naked eye. They can’t multiply on their own, so they have to invade a ‘host’ cell and take over its machinery in order to be able to make more virus particles. Viruses consist of genetic materials (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protective coat of protein. They are capable of latching onto cells and getting inside them. The cells of the mucous membranes, such as those lining the respiratory passages that we breathe through, are particularly open to virus attacks because they are not covered by protective skin.
According to the medics, virus is any wide variety of exceedingly small particles that causes different diseases. They are called filterable viruses because unlike bacteria, they pass through ordinary laboratory filters. Viruses occupy the borderline between living and nonliving things. Many medical scientists believe that they are complex molecules of protein and nucleic acid, resembling genes. They show no lifelike activity, unless they are introduced into living cell. They cannot be grown in the laboratory on simple nutrient substances as bacteria can. Once inside a cell, they undergo to the process of making copies of itself or reproducing. By changing the cell’s chemistry the virus causes the cell to produce toxins. Specific viruses are responsible for a host of diseases. Today, we know what virus is, yet viral diseases of the world such as cancer, AIDS and Ebola, cannot be eradicated. Why? It is because no one knows how virus was born.
Viruses have many different names and are distributed in many different forms. There are also different categories of virus and threats such as Trojans, Spyware and Adware and other such dangers. But all these threats that generally produce a damaging or detrimental effect to your computer run under the name of Malware or Malicious Software. There are too many causes and effects to list, but can range from VIRUS – A program that is created to attack other programs or software on a computer and designed to spread and infect other data on a computer. WORM – Worms are dedicated to spreading between computer networks via security holes and vulnerabilities. They can work over a LAN or WAN (such as the Internet) and don’t need to attach themselves to any particular software or programs like a generic virus would. TROJAN – Trojans are usually disguised as a program of some description, and rely on the user to run or execute the installation. The Trojan may be a self contained exe file, or it
