Ever since the first malicious, self-copying computer program made its way into computers in 1986, viruses have been causing all sorts of problems. They can cause slowdowns to the machine, corrupt data, display political or humorous messages, take personal information like credit card numbers telephone numbers, passwords, phone numbers and bank accounts, or even spam the user’s email contacts as well as email more addresses, and can making the machine unusable.
A virus is a program that is affixed to other files or programs, infects them and remains hidden until the affected software is executed. Typically, a virus starts infecting the host program and then expands to other programs and files, usually by e-mail. A virus that is successful can cause significant damage and destruction within an extremely short period of time.
It takes time and experience to create viruses on computers, but anyone who is interested in programming for computers can learn how. You can make a virus to find out about a programming langauge, or even as an opportunity to make a joke. A virus can be used to test an antivirus’s effectiveness.
This article will provide instructions on how to make a simple computer virus using Python however the same procedure can be used for any programming language. Python is a great programming language for beginners, as it is relatively easy to learn. For viruses other programming languages that can be compiled are typically preferred because they work at lower levels of the computer and thus be more efficient.
