Welcome to the classroom!

This classroom is for the study of "the way of the armadillo", where you'll be learning how to spot and avoid downloading viruses to your system, as well as a few ways to protect yourself from them! Below you will find a few paragraphs of information on the subject of viruses, as well as a short video summing up key points if you find the reading to be too lengthy. Are you ready? Let's begin!

Firstly, lets define what a virus is. A computer virus is a malicious program written to damage the system it ends up on, and it's usually meant to be spread to other computers, much like a flu virus. These viruses can range in the damage they do, from being a minor annoyance with things like popups to destroying your entire system and making your computer unusable. So, let's discuss how to avoid getting a virus, and what to do if you have one.
The most common way to install a virus is by running an executable program, or a ".exe" file. Viruses often cannot do anything without being run by the user, sometimes within another innocent looking program. Always check the files you download to make sure you didn’t accidentally download a virus. A good way to prevent a virus is to download anti-malware software which you can use to scan your computer or individual files for any viruses. Make sure to keep it up to date and scan regularly. Anti-malware software can also be used to delete any viruses you have, but it’s better to prevent them from ever being installed in the first place. Sometimes, a virus cannot be easily removed.
Be careful of what links you click, if you click a bad link it could download a virus when you were trying to download something else. Also do not open random emails from people you don’t know. The last thing you could do is back up your files. If the worst happens and a virus locks you out of your computer, you should have a backup to reset your computer.