We have all heard of them. The horrors of the web. Hard to detect, hard to remove, and they could do some serious damage to your lives. Yes of course, I am talking about viruses. Ever since the birth of the Internet and computing became commercially available viruses have been out on the prowl to do some damage.
But what actually is a virus? A virus is a harmful piece of computer code that is able to multiply by itself countless amounts of time and spread throughout a whole computer system, causing damage, corruption, and a path a data destruction along the way. Similar to the medical term, viruses can multiply and spread. This means that the original few lines of virus code can be tiny and undetectable. Then by the time it is spotted by the user it is way too late and the damage has already been done.
What are viruses capable of? Many things. From deleting data to holding your important documents for ransom, a virus is truly something you want to avoid. Some viruses are capable of planting themselves into your computer then whilst you are not there a hacker can remotely control your computer. Viruses could also steal personal details and logins to online banking and social media. Money could be stolen from your bank accounts, Facebook profiles could be hacked, and so much more.
Pretty terrifying. Viruses can cause huge amount of damage than in certain cases can be irreversible. But how do you stop this from happening? Easy. Get yourself some anti-virus software. Run an Internet search for “antivirus software” and an abundance of options will come up. Basic protection, intermediate protection, all the way up to advanced protection is available from software companies far and wide of all scales. Nine times out of ten these antivirus products will feature a free trial so make sure you download the trial and see what works for you. Try out a few different products too. Everyone is different, but only one will be perfect for you.
Hopefully now you will realise the horrors that viruses are capable of creating, and will take action to get protected.