资料来源 : pyDict
病毒,滤过性微生物,毒害,恶毒 ;(一个能够复制、感染其他程式或破坏操作系统的程式)
资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Virus \Vi"rus\, n. [L., a slimy liquid, a poisonous liquid,
poison, stench; akin to Gr. ? poison, Skr. visha. Cf.
{Wizen}, v. i.]
1. (Med.)
(a) Contagious or poisonous matter, as of specific ulcers,
the bite of snakes, etc.; -- applied to organic
poisons.
(b) The special contagion, inappreciable to the senses and
acting in exceedingly minute quantities, by which a
disease is introduced into the organism and maintained
there.
Note: The specific virus of diseases is now regarded as a
microscopic living vegetable organism which multiplies
within the body, and, either by its own action or by
the associated development of a chemical poison, causes
the phenomena of the special disease.
2. Fig.: Any morbid corrupting quality in intellectual or
moral conditions; something that poisons the mind or the
soul; as, the virus of obscene books.
资料来源 : WordNet®
virus
n 1: (virology) ultramicroscopic infectious agent that replicates
itself only within cells of living hosts; many are
pathogenic; a piece of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) wrapped
in a thin coat of protein
2: a harmful or corrupting agency; "bigotry is a virus that
must not be allowed to spread"; "the virus of jealousy is
latent in everyone"
3: a software program capable of reproducing itself and usually
capable of causing great harm to files or other programs
on the same computer; "a true virus cannot spread to
another computer without human assistance" [syn: {computer
virus}]
资料来源 : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing
virus
(By analogy with biological viruses, via SF) A
program or piece of code written by a {cracker} that "infects"
one or more other programs by embedding a copy of itself in
them, so that they become {Trojan horses}. When these
programs are executed, the embedded virus is executed too,
thus propagating the "infection". This normally happens
invisibly to the user.
A virus has an "engine" - code that enables it to propagate
and optionally a "payload" - what it does apart from
propagating. It needs a "host" - the particular hardware and
software environment on which it can run and a "trigger" - the
event that starts it running.
Unlike a {worm}, a virus cannot infect other computers without
assistance. It is propagated by vectors such as humans
trading programs with their friends (see {SEX}). The virus
may do nothing but propagate itself and then allow the program
to run normally. Usually, however, after propagating silently
for a while, it starts doing things like writing "cute"
messages on the terminal or playing strange tricks with the
display (some viruses include {display hacks}). Viruses
written by particularly antisocial {crackers} may do
irreversible damage, like deleting files.
By the 1990s, viruses had become a serious problem, especially
among {IBM PC} and {Macintosh} users (the lack of security on
these machines enables viruses to spread easily, even
infecting the operating system). The production of special
{antivirus software} has become an industry, and a number of
exaggerated media reports have caused outbreaks of near
hysteria among users. Many {lusers} tend to blame
*everything* that doesn't work as they had expected on virus
attacks. Accordingly, this sense of "virus" has passed into
popular usage where it is often incorrectly used for a {worm}
or {Trojan horse}.
See {boot virus}, {phage}. Compare {back door}. See also
{Unix conspiracy}.
[{Jargon File}]
(2003-06-20)