Virus

Although every user is still aware of this term, there are gen­er­ally hardly any real (com­pany) viruses in cir­cu­la­tion any longer today. A classic (com­puter) virus infects existing files on a device in the hope that one of them is passed on to another user. If mal­ware does not make any attempt to actively dis­tribute itself, you call it a virus. If mal­ware how­ever is able to also spread auto­mat­i­cally, e. g. by e-mail, you call it a worm.

See also: Mal­ware, Worm