What Are the Major Differences Between a Computer Virus and a Computer Worm?

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Today, computer worms affect computers more than computer viruses. In this way, anticomputer viruses, which, as their name suggests, had been designed to fight computer viruses, have had to implement changes to protect against computer worms as well. But how does a computer worm differ from a computer virus? They are indeed very similar, but they are not the same. Here we show you the difference between the two.

What is a Computer Virus?

A computer virus is a software that runs by itself and is spread by infecting copies of itself to other programs or documents hosted on the affected computer. But besides, it can be attached to a program or file that is shared with other computers, infecting them as well.

They are called computer viruses because they mimic the behavior of human-computer viruses and there are different types: some can cause small errors while others cause serious damage to your hardware, software, or files, which can have serious consequences for your computer. The greatest danger of computer viruses is that they reproduce uncontrollably, affecting many resources on the PC.

You must be clear that the vast majority of computer viruses are incorporated into an executable file, this means that for the computer virus to act on your computer, you must run or open the file or program in which it is located.

Today computer viruses spread very easily since they are shared too many times by virtualizing certain content, that is, by sending infected files or emails. The code that is infected from the file is called a host or host.

You should also know that certain computer viruses have a delayed load that is usually called a bomb, which means that some computer viruses can display a message in a day, but in other cases, they do not do so until after a certain time.

What's a Computer Worm?

A computer worm, also known as worn, passes from one computer to another and spreads easily without the intervention of any person, it does so through a file. Due to its ability to duplicate itself, it could create an infinite number of copies and cause serious damage to your computer in no time.

Keep in mind that once it spreads through the system, it begins to occupy a large part of its memory, which causes the computer to stop working normally.

Differences Between a Computer Virus and a Computer Worm

There are several differences between a computer virus and a computer worm and these are the most prominent:

• Computer worms spread faster than computer viruses.
• Computer worms use computer networks to spread themselves, computer viruses for their part do so through executable files.
• Computer viruses don't need human intervention, computer worms do.
• Computer worms damage resources, computer viruses damage or destroy files on your computer.
• Computer worms are independent files that are inside the memory of the infected computer. Computer viruses are executable files that in some cases are attached to other executable files.
• Computer worms hog bandwidth, deleting files, or sending emails, while computer viruses modify or damage data.

As now you are aware of computer viruses and computer worms, it is time to prevent them before your computer being infected. Install total security to keep your PC safe from the attack by the latest virus or worm.