List of viruses that affect computers

The following article will list and describe the different types of viruses that could affect your computer. In general, a computer virus is a program that can copy itself onto your machine and affect various parts of your machine's functions. A virus can spread from one computer to the next one in the form of an executable code.

Malware

Malware is short for malicious software. It is a code, script or program that is used to disrupt the normal functions of your computer. It can also be used to deny operations of some of your computer's function. It can collect information, exploit and gain unauthorised access to your computer. That can result in the loss of your private information, passwords and other valuable information. Malware is a pretty big area and covers most of the terms we know when it comes to viruses. Following is a malware list of virus terms and definitions that we might be familiar with. There have been many virus hoaxes in the past for publicity, possibly to boost the sales of anti-virus software and for other reasons. However, viruses are real and there are some people out there that would like to get their hands on your personal information for the wrong reasons.

Worms

A computer worm is self-replicating. It will use computer networks to copy itself onto as many vulnerable machines as possible, and then further spread to vulnerable networks. Worms, even ones not designed to do damage can still have a negative effect on a network's bandwidth. Even if it isn't doing any harm to the computer, the fact that it is always trying to spread can really slow down a network's bandwidth.

Trojan horse

A Trojan horse is a very destructive virus that disguises itself as a legitimate program. It might even perform some forms of desirable functions before it starts to harm your system or steal information to possibly send off to a third party. The term comes from the Greek stories about the Trojan war, where the Greeks gave a giant wooden horse to their foes as a peace offering. When it was taken within the cities' walls, the Greek warriors sneaked out of the wooden horse and opened the cities' gates.

Spyware

Spyware is a form of malware that can be installed on computers to monitor many different things. It can come in the form of a virus that secretly records keystrokes that could possibly be account numbers and passwords as well as sites visited. More commonly, this is user-installed in companies or corporations to secretly keep tabs on sites visited as well as keystrokes entered by the staff of the company.