A virus can be defined as a computer software or computer program that is designed in such a way that it can replicate itself to different locations or different sectors of a hard disk and infect a computer by removing or manipulating the date or information that is already stored on the hard disk. The source virus can modify the copies and the copies can also modify themselves for instance as occurs is a metamorphic virus. A metamorphic virus can be defined as a virus that is able to reprogram itself. Sometimes this can be done when it translates its own code into a temporary representation, edit the representation and then translate itself back to normal code. The word virus is also normally used to refer to a number of different types of virus programs such as adware and malware.

Malware or malicious software can be defined, as software that is designed is such a way that it can penetrate and destroy a computer system without the computer user’s consent. Most of the computer users are still unfamiliar with the term Malware. Instead of malware the term “computer virus” is commonly used which is incorrect because of the fact that not all malware are virus. Adware also known as advertising supported software can be defined as a software package that can automatically play, display or download advertisements to a computer after the software is installed on it or the when the software is being used. There are some special types of adware that are known as spyware. Spyware can be classified as privacy invasive software.

A computer virus can only move from one hard disk to another or from one computer to another when its host is taken to the uninfected computer. For example a virus can be moved to another computer when a person sends it over the internet or a network or carry it on a removable memory storage device such as USB drive, DVD or CD. A computer virus often confused with Trojan horses and computer worms. A computer worm is a computer program that can replicate itself. It uses a network to send copies of itself to other terminals on the network. A computer worm does not need to attach itself to an existing file. On the other hand a Trojan horse is a file seems harmless. Both Trojans and computer worms may destroy and damage data and files of a computer or computers connected by a network.

At the present time most of the personal computers or office computers are connected most of the time to internet and to LAN (local area network) that facilities the process of spreading of malicious code. Computer anti virus software can be defined as the computer software or computer programs that are designed in such a way that they can identify, defuse and eliminate malicious software. The earliest anti virus were designed only to fight computer viruses but nowadays you can easily find anti virus software that are designed to fight viruses as well as a wide range of threats such as Trojan horses, computer worms, malware, droppers etc.

Antivirus software uses two different methods to identify computer viruses. First method is scanning or examining, in this method Antivirus software scan all the files of a computer or a media storage device to find known viruses. The second method is identifying suspicious behavior from any computer program or software which might indicate infection.

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