Very much like the actual virus, the “Computer Virus” is designed to duplicate itself and spread around looking for a new host to infect. The existence of computer viruses are reliant on the “host”, which can be a file, document or others.
According to “Norton”, a famous antivirus software company’s webpage on “What is a computer virus?” the definition of computer virus is the following:
A computer virus, in more technical words, is a malicious code or program that is developed to change the way a computer works and is designed to spread from one computer to another. In order to execute its code, a virus inserts or attaches itself to a legitimate program or document.
During this process, a virus has the potential to have unexpected or undesirable effects, such as harming system software by corrupting or destroying data.