Originally Posted by
buffo
No, actually James is using the term "virus" correctly. The problem is that the media has corrupted the word virus to refer to any sort of malware, including trojans and worms. And while this is not technically correct, no one has bothered to correct them over the years.
A virus, in the original definition, referred to a program that infected a computer by adding malicious code to the boot sector of a floppy disk. When the disc was booted, the machine was infected. Thereafter, any other disc that was inserted into the drive would have it's boot sector overwritten with the virus code, allowing the virus to spread.
These days people don't boot from floppy disks, so finding a true virus (using the classic definition) is exceedingly rare. What people call a virus today is usually a trojan horse (malicious code that either replaces an otherwise valid executable file entirely, or sometimes is merely appended to an otherwise valid executable file) or a worm (malicious code that is network-aware and can spread via trusted connections between machines). But since everyone has gotten used to calling all malware a virus, the original definition has become somewhat meaningless, at least to the masses.
But James has it right. Originally a virus was a specific type of infection, and it was distinct from trojans and worms.
Adam
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buffo
