The A to Z Guide to the Internet

V

Viral- This term was originally coined to describe viral marketing, but the adjective has expanded to refer to any practice that moves a product from person to person. The ease of passing information on to others with e-mail addresses has made it possible for information, videos and graphics to spread like wildfire through the Internet community. There are viral videos, viral jokes, viral hoaxes, etc.

Virus- This is one of the terms that is normally familiar to everyone, but very few understands what exactly it means. Most know that viruses are bad and can be damaging to their computer, but that is the extent of the knowledge.

A computer virus is program that multiplies itself on computer systems and incorporates itself into shared programs. Some viruses are harmless pranks, and others can destroy computer files or disable a computer entirely. A key quality of viruses is that they spread quickly, from user to user.

Viruses are most commonly spread through e-mail. Certain viruses use personal e-mail address books to send the damaging programs from computer to computer. To prevent against receiving an unwelcome virus, do not open any e-mail attachments from people that you do not know.

Most, if not all, Internet Service Providers offer some kind of protection from Viruses within the structure of the Internet connection. If you use the Internet frequently, you might also want to invest in an additional Virus scanning program, such as McAffee VirusScan or Norton Anti-Virus.

Although both Macintosh and Windows run computers are subject to viruses, there are a greater number of Windows viruses.