Home > Virus (disambiguation)

To see how virus is pluralized, see plural of virus.

• In biology, virus refers to parasitic agents that are smaller than bacteria and that can only reproduce after infecting a host cell.
• In computer science, a virus is a (usually malicious) computer program that can travel surreptitiously from computer to computer.
• Virus is also used metaphorically to refer to other entities, such as ideas, that can spread rapidly by "infecting" their hosts (see also meme). Blogging for one, is an extreme example of how powerful and rapid a viral idea can be.

Certain types of software license have been called "viral" because they require that changed copies of the original work be released under the same license, GPL being a prominent example. Despite the fact that the GPL does not infect other software the viral characterization is used to imply that it will and that is used to create fear about using GPL'ed software. See GNU_General_Public_License#The_GPL_is_a_license for an explanation.

• Virus is the title of no fewer than 5 feature films:
  • Virus (2002 movie)
  • Virus (2001 movie)
  • Virus (1999 movie)
  • Virus (1995 movie)
  • Virus (1981 movie)