Computer viruses are programs that can copy themselves and infect computers without permission. They share traits with biological viruses and pass from computer to computer. Some examples of damaging viruses include Mydoom in 2004, Melissa in 1999, and ILOVEYOU in 2000. Viruses work by attaching themselves to other programs or system areas of the disk. They have dormant, propagation, triggering, and execution phases. Anti-virus software uses techniques like pattern recognition, heuristics, integrity checking, and behavior blocking to detect viruses.