Computer viruses are not accidents and cannot create themselves. It
takes a human being to create a computer virus. These people
deliberately create a program that when unleashed on an unsuspecting
computer or networking system will either play a prank or possibly
render the computer useless. Now that we know that for a computer virus
to exist, [...]

Whereas virus writers used to revel in the thought of bringing down thousands of computers and networks down in a matter of hours, now most are planning slower attacks that give them more control of those computers and networks.  BusinessWeek has an interesting computer virus article on this subject.

Yet another argument for having a functional and updated anti-virus
program running on your computer:
I spoke with someone recently (we’ll call him Jay) who says he,
admittedly, doesn’t pay enough attention to Internet security.
Jay tells me that last month he opened up his phone bill and while his
normal phone bill runs about $80 or so, this time [...]

SOME HISTORY OF THE COMPUTER VIRUS
Though protecting yourself from a computer virus today involves mainly Internet security and anti-virus scanning and removal tools, “back in the day” computer viruses were a little bit different.
In the early days of personal computers, before widespread access to any type of computer network, most viruses that did spread were [...]

Myth#5:
Your computer can become infected with a virus from just looking at a webpage.
False: Thankfully, no. If you’re looking at a web page and choose to download or execute a file from that page then you could contract a virus, but not just from looking at a web page. That being [...]

Myth#4:
If I don’t get on the Internet at all then there is no way for me to get a virus.
False: Sadly, no. Though the vast majority of computer viruses are spread via the Internet or Email, many viruses are spread via software. It is possible for a computer virus to be [...]

Myth #3:
If I download a file directly to a disk, then a computer virus cannot get into the computer.
False: Whether you’ve installed a program from disk to your computer or are running directly off of the disk has no bearing on whether a virus from that disk could infect your computer. There are [...]

Myth #2:
If the software I buy is sealed or registered, then I don’t have to worry about contracting a computer virus.
False: This is simply not true. Though it is safer to buy new/sealed software, don’t let the presence of shrink wrap automatically assure you that the software is 100% secure. It is [...]

We are starting a five part series on busting computer virus myths. There is plenty of good information out there on computer viruses, but along with the good is some pretty bad information too.
Myth #1:
If I just use the Internet for Email, then I can’t get a virus.
False: Most viruses right now [...]