PC computer question: Are virus' really dangerous?

Question

I don't believe that a virus can do any permanent damage to my hard drive -- is that correct? My hard drive is fully backed up and can easily be restored in case of a virus. My main question is whether a virus can damage my PC mother board --- such as the BIOS chip. If it cannot, then why do I need virus protection if I can erase and restore my hard drive.

Answer 1

dont go into the computer indestry  

Answer 2

are you serious?

are you backing up your entire computer everytime you make a change to it?

sure if you got a virus you could always wipe out your drive and restore everything...up to the last time you made a backup.  And what if you didn't realize you had the virus right away.  Then when you make your backup, you back up the virus as well.  And you restore the virus as well.

if you seriously don't think it would cause you any problems, then go surf the net and download all the c**p you can and install away. Sooner or later you will get a file with a virus.  Then you can answer your own question.

Most likely you'll be back on Yahoo Answers begging someone to help you figure out how to get rid of it.

Answer 3

Most likely they won't physically damage any hardware, that's not their intent. Some virus are able to gather information in your computer and pass it to the virus' developer. If you have done taxes using programs like Turbotax for example, they might be able to get your social security number, etc.  Also, even if your computer is fully kosher, why go through the whole backup restore process that takes hours, potentially loosing data and definitely wasting time, when you can stop all that with a firewall and an antivirus?

Answer 4

True that you can always restore your PC but:

A. Its a pain in the butt

B. They could steal important information

C. They could put a virus on that does not crash but does other stuff to make it run slow, send personal data to them or make programs not work

It is worth it to be protected.

Answer 5

Yes you are right but what if a virus sends back to it's creator your secret information like passwords and credit card series and all that stuff.....then you will get in a lot of troubles , you can lose everything.There are many types of viruses and malware.However I don't think that a virus can do any damage to your computer components.

Answer 6

Well even if you can restore all of your settings. A hacker or a virus could easly delete a file that your computer really needs. The sort of files that will make your computer stop working unless you have your computers recovery disc.  

Answer 7

viruses can attack your video card and motherboard BIOS and kill your HDD as well.

Answer 8

Viruses are mainly a nuisance thing. The "virus" nomenclature comes from the fact that they are designed to self-replicate and spread. That's the only real "danger" with viruses.

Viruses do not harm hardware. Your assumption is correct. Your physical hard drive, the BIOS, and any other hardware aspect of your computer is totally untouched by viruses. It's the equivalent to a smelly sock in your car; it's annoying, but it's not going to make your car break down.

Viruses only affect the software environment. This is why Windows-based systems seem so vulnerable, and Mac and Linux systems are virtually unharmed.

People will say that they can steal sensitive information like your credit card or social security numbers. But, what they don't understand, is that they can't steal anything if YOU DON'T ENTER THOSE NUMBERS IN THE FIRST PLACE. You can't steal something that isn't there. Therefore, if you're not stupid enough to store such sensitive information on your computer, you'll be safe. Burn those important docs, like tax returns and stuff, onto a CD, store it in a secure place, and trash the original.

A lot of people think that they are equivalent to biological viruses. A computer can catch them and get "sick". If the sickness isn't cured, the computer will expire and break, similar to a human dying from a viral infection. This is, of course, totally false. People who think this do so because they have no idea how computers and viruses work.

h**l, I bought my fairly new laptop ($1200 value) from someone who sold it to me for $150 because it was "infected".

I think the term "virus" makes sense, given how viruses work. But it really puts people who don't know in a state of undue alarm. Biological viruses = very bad. Computer viruses = a pest, but otherwise harmless.

Unfortunately, education about viruses will not spread nearly as quickly as the hype and alarm. It's people's paranoia and ignorance that's made the virus protection industry such a freaking gold mine.

You don't really *need* virus protection. If it's not a burden for you, erasing and restoring your hard drive works just fine. A lot of people choose virus protection, however, because they can't or don't want to wipe their drive.