Nigerians have so many computer virus myths. These myths are the main motivation behind this post. You may or may not have heard one before, but whatever the case may be, it is very important you understand what a computer virus is and how it works. Understanding this is very important because, you can only protect and manage your PC effectively when you understand what a virus is and how it works.

A virus is a software: Someone once told me, people manufacture virus and eject them into the sky so they float in the sky and affect people’s PCs…… LOL. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard about a computer virus. The emotional part of the story is that the guy telling me this story is a PC repairs “ENGINEER”. You don’t believe that right?? But it’s true. Believe me, he must have told same ridicule to his clients, I can’t even imagine what will happen when a lot of people get to believe that. You have to know that a virus is a software, in as much as it can affect your hardware, that does not change the fact that it is a software. In fact, a virus is a software, and it can only affect your PC when it is executed, better put, when it executes itself, it then affects your PC by modifying the software contents of your PC, that’s why you may notice your PC runs slowly after it is affected amongst other symptoms. A virus carries out its mission by modifying or say corrupting your PC software such as your personal files e.g. word documents, music, videos, software etc.; boot sector files (the files that enable your PC boot) amongst other software.

PCs can only be infected through data transfer: What this means is that your PC can only be affected by virus when data containing virus is transferred to your PC. By data transfer we mean, any activity that makes your PC share data between itself and any other gadget e.g. browsing the internet, sharing files among PCs through a network or by any other means etc. This means that even if you don’t have an antiviral software in your PC, your PC can NEVER be affected by virus if you don’t transfer data with it. Let’s say you only type with your PC, you never print or connect it to any data transfer device or gadget such as flash drive, memory card, or even a printer, your PC don’t stand a chance to be affected. But the truth is you can’t use a PC without transferring or receiving date by any means, because at worst, you would install software that will enable you use the PC, and that’s data transfer, so best thing to do is to get a real-time active antiviral program software that will allow you carry out all the data transfer you want to without any fear of favor.

Virus begets virus: Yes, Virus begets virus! You need to understand that the defining characteristic of viruses is that they are self-replicating computer programs which install themselves without user consent. This simply means that the moment a virus gets into your PC, it installs/executes itself without your consent or approval, and then it continues to duplicate and increase in number in your PC, all this it does without a single word of permission from you. A PC virus doesn’t care if you are the owner of the PC or not, it does whatever it likes to your PC except you have a real time antivirus to combat it.

Computer viruses currently cause about billions of dollars’ worth of economic damage each year arising from system failures, waste of computer resources, data corruption, increasing maintenance costs, PC failures, amongst other hazards. You don’t want to fall a victim right Get an antiviral software today, thank us later!

Source: http://naijalaptopfix.com/blog/virus-101-basics-you-need-to-know-about-computer-virus/