• Question: why is there such thing as a virus? There always on my computer and it takes ages to get them off. What kind of bug are they?

    Asked by Heary to Ciarán on 17 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Ciarán O'Brien

      Ciarán O'Brien answered on 17 Nov 2014:

      A computer virus is a very different thing to a biological one 🙂

      A biological virus is a little strand of DNA encased in a little protein coat. They infect cells and hijack its machinery to make more of themselves, often killing the cell in the process.

      A computer virus is a little computer program written by a horrible person that does bad things to your computer if you let them run. They can cause your computer to just turn off, they can scramble the information to make your computer fail to start up, they can even steal your passwords or bank details. But they’re not alive, and I don’t get to study them 🙂

      If you have lots of viruses on your computer then get an anti-virus program (there are good free ones like aVira), stop visiting dodgy websites, and don’t run programs that you’re not sure about!

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