A computer virus is a type of malware that, once installed, can replicate itself and spread to other computers. Infected computers can display a wide variety of symptoms, including reduced system performance, application crashes, data loss and identity theft.

Viruses are often spread through email attachments, infected websites, or infected files downloaded from peer-to-peer networks. They can also spread through USB drives, social media and other forms of external media.

There are a number of ways to protect your computer from viruses, including installing antivirus software, keeping your operating system and applications up to date, and being careful about which …