WHAT DOES A COMPUTER VIRUS DO? & WHAT IT CANNOT DO?

WHAT DOES A COMPUTER VIRUS DO?
A virus tries to take control of the computer it has infected. It make copies of itself and tries to carry

out the harmful tasks that it is programmed to do.This process can happen so quickly that the user is not even aware that the virus is present in the computer. Some viruses are programmed to activate themselves at a certain date/time. Such viruses check the system clock continuously, and create havoc when the set time or date arrives. Viruses can also damage new files created on the affected computer or the contents of pen drives (or any removable storage media) that are inserted into such a computer. They attach copies of themselves to the new files and/or files on the storage media.
What a Virus Does
Different viruses do different things. A computer virus is capable of any of the following:

• It can infect executable program files such as word processors, spreadsheets , and operating systems.
• It can infect disks by attaching itself to special programs on the hard disk called boot records.These are the programs that the computer uses to start up.
• It can infect files that are attached to email messages or copied to discs and pen drives, In this manner, it can spread from one computer to another.

What a Virus cannot Do.
These are certain things no program can do. A computer virus is a program; hence, it cannot do the following:

• It cannot infect files on write-protected discs such as CD-ROM's
• It cannot infect computer hardware such as monitors and keyboards. It only infects software.