A computer virus behaves in a way similar to a
biological virus, which spreads by inserting itself into living cells .
Extending the analogy, the insertion of a virus into the program is
termed as an "infection", and the infected file, or executable code that
is not part of a file, is called a "host".
A computer virus will pass from one computer to another like a real life biological virus passes from person to person. For example , it is estimated by experts that the Mydoom worm infected a quarter-million computers in a single day in January 2004. In marsh 1999, the Melissa virus spread so rapidly that it forced Microsoft and a number of other very larger companies to completely turn off their e-mail systems untill the virus could be dealt with. Another examples is the ILOVEYOU virus, which occurred in 2000 and had a similar effect. It stole most of its operating style from Melissa.
A computer virus will pass from one computer to another like a real life biological virus passes from person to person. For example , it is estimated by experts that the Mydoom worm infected a quarter-million computers in a single day in January 2004. In marsh 1999, the Melissa virus spread so rapidly that it forced Microsoft and a number of other very larger companies to completely turn off their e-mail systems untill the virus could be dealt with. Another examples is the ILOVEYOU virus, which occurred in 2000 and had a similar effect. It stole most of its operating style from Melissa.
