Why Do I Still Get Viruses?

Article Index Why Do I Still Get Viruses? What can a Virus do to me? Virus Life Cycle Conclusion How do I Protect my Computer? Page 3 of 5 Virus Life Cycle Creation - In the past it took significant skill to create a virus.  However, anyone with even basic skills can create a virus.  In fact, there are virus creation labs freely available on the Internet.  This can allow anyone to create interesting and potentially malicious code; Replication - If one of the main goals of the virus developer is the replication or spread of the virus, many viruses will lay dormant and wait for a certain event to take place like a date something similar.  This allows the virus to replicate to many systems before it activates; Activation - Once certain requirements or conditions are met, the virus will activate itself and execute the code that causes damage to your computer.  Not all virus cause damage.  Non-damaging virus usually do not need activation; Identification - Once the virus has infected computers and activated themselves in the wild (on your computer), they are isolated and documented and sent to the anti-virus companies; Recognition - The anti-virus companies then develop the code necessary to detect the virus, update their virus signature patterns, and make them available to their customers.  This process can be rather quick or can take days or months; Destruction - If enough people are protected by anti-virus software that can detect, isolate, and destroy the virus, it can be stopped from spreading   << Prev - Next >>