How do computer system infections spread?

A computer virus is a kind of harmful code or program that, when performed, replicates itself by customizing other computer programs and placing its own code. When this replication prospers, the impacted areas are then said to be contaminated with an infection.

Infections frequently spread out by creating a copy of themselves on a user's computer without the user's knowledge or approval. In a lot of cases, infections will be spread by email attachments or by files shared on peer-to-peer networks. Once a virus has contaminated a computer, it can spread to other computer systems on the same network.

best sitedescription Some infections are configured to spread themselves in a manner that might trigger major damage to a computer system.  look here For example, an infection might delete files, fill a tough drive with useless data, or corrupt system files. In some cases, an infection may even show a message or image that is designed to scare the user.

Many infections are fairly harmless, and just trigger minor annoyance to the user. However, some infections can be very unsafe, and can cause widespread damage to computer system systems.