Virus A software program that attaches itself to another program in computer memory or on a disk, and spreads from one program to another. Viruses may damage data, cause the computer to crash, display messages or lie dormant.
Most people are aware of the threat of viruses.
In the past, most viruses have been spread by loading an infected floppy diskette into a drive and activating the file or program containing the virus. This should not be a concern. Viruses are spread by programs. E-mail is only a text file, not a program. Of course not.