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Developments in technology seem to be announced at an ever-increasing ... . New, more powerful and sophisticated computer systems seem to be produced so quickly that they appear out-of-date even before they are plugged in for the first time.
Unfortunately, while such systems are designed to make our lives easier and speed up our ... to information from other computers, they still leave users open to the risk of a computer virus attack. A computer virus is a program that is capable of reproducing itself and spreading from one computer to another, much as a ... virus spreads from one living organism to another. Just as some viruses that infect human beings are more serious than others, so computer viruses vary in the amount of damage they can do. Viruses can take forms ranging from an irritating but otherwise harmless message appearing on the screen to the total ... of data and destruction of the computer system. In the past, computer viruses spread relatively slowly, but today, thanks to the development of the Internet and the ... of email, it is possible for a virus to spread rapidly and infect computers all around the world.
Getting rid of viruses from an infected computer system is a tedious and sometimes expensive business, so it is better to ... getting them in the first place. To do this, it is important to use reliable anti-virus software which should be kept up to date. It is also advisable to back up important files on a ... basis to avoid losing valuable data in the case of a serious virus attack.