The Harm of Computer Viruses and How to Prevent Them

This guide provides a practical overview of Harm of Computer Viruses and How to Prevent Them, including its main features, benefits, limitations, and important considerations.

1. What is a computer virus?

- Computer virus is a program segment capable of duplicating itself from one infected object to another (the object may be program files, documents, computers.).

- Computer viruses are man-made and programmed for bad purposes. Some viruses are programmed with different purposes, but mainly two viruses steal data and sabotage data by deleting or encrypting them.

2. The harm of computer viruses

- The main harms to computer viruses cause:

+ Consuming system resources.

+ Stealing data.

+ Encrypt data to extort money.

+ Destroy data.

+ Destroy the system.

+ And some other harmful effects annoying users.

- The main ways of spreading computer viruses are through:

+ Copy the infected file from one computer to another.

+ Using crack software, pirated software for free.

+ Via mobile memory devices such as USB, memory cards.

+ Via the intranet (LAN, WAN), the Internet, especially email (email).

+ Through software vulnerabilities.

3. Prevent computer viruses

- Limit unnecessary copying and do not run programs downloaded from the Internet or copy from other computers when not reliable enough.

- Do not open attachments in e-mail messages if they have unclear origin or content.

- Do not access websites with unhealthy content.

- Regularly update patches (patches, hotfixes) of software, operating systems on the computer.

- Backup data regularly so that it can be restored when the virus is damaged.

- Scan computer viruses regularly and remove viruses with famous antivirus software such as Kaspersky, Avast, Norton, BitDefender.

Through this article, you have learned about computer viruses and its harms. Please equip yourself with the basic knowledge about virus prevention and raise awareness when using computers in a healthy way. Good luck!