will focus on the most common form of personal computers, the 80x86, better known as an IBM compatible machine. The computer itself is run by a special piece of electronics known as a microprocessor. This acts as the brains of the computer ecosystem and could be said to be at the top of the food chain. A computer's primary function is to hold and manipulate data and that is where a virus comes into play. Data itself is stored in the computer via memory. There are two general categories for all memory: random access memory (RAM) and physical memory (hard and floppy diskettes). In either of those types of memory can a virus reside. RAM is by nature temporary; every time the computer is reset the RAM is erased. Physical memory, however, is fairly permanent. A piece of information, data, file, program, or virus placed here will still be around in the event that the computer is turned off.
             Within this complex environment, exists computer viruses. There is no exact and concrete definition for a computer virus, but over time some commonly accepted facts have been related to them. All viruses are programs or pieces of programs that reside in some form of memory. They all were created by a person with the explicit intent of being a virus. For example, a bug (or error) in a program, while
             ...