Calendar District Map Schools School Board School Performance Reports Recreation Dept. AVP Virus Encyclopedia Doug Muth's Anti-Virus US Dept. A computer virus is a piece of software designed and written to make additional copies of itself and spread from location to location, typically without user knowledge or permission. A virus does NOT have to be destructive.
Viruses can spread by diskette, network, email or Internet downloads.
Occasionally, they are accidentally spread within packaged software products. Viruses cannot spread on their own and must be executed by someone to cause damage. Boot sector viruses spread when a user inadvertently boots his or her workstation from an infected floppy disk. Macro viruses can spread by simply opening an infected document. Mass mailing viruses utilize email to propagate rapidly, usually using social engineering tactics to persuade unsuspecting users to open the infected message.