Say Happy 40th Birthday to the Computer Virus

In 1971, a message popped up on a screen: “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!” A nod to Scooby Doo, the first virus was called the Creeper.

Also, thanks to time flying like the wind, it’s been four decades, meaning the computer virus is now well into its middle age. Also, it’s now older than me.

How has it fared since then? In 1990, just a little under 20 years since its birth, only 1,300 computer viruses roamed the planet. That’s probably because back then, the laptop computer hadn’t proliferated beyond the brick stage and people actually were forced to function without cellphones.

Now that everyone owns a doodad of some sort, and cell phones are virtually becoming miniaturized computers, more than 200 million viruses roam the digital sphere today. Wonder what we’ll see by the time 2021 rolls around?

(via PhysOrg)

More on TIME.com:

Pwn2Own Roundup: Apple Fails, Google Stays Strong

‘Security’ That Makes A Grab For Your Wallet

Trojan Horse vs. Your Computer

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I’ve been removing computer viruses since when they could infect the boot sectors of desktop computer floppy drives, 5 1/4″ (remember those?) the viruses we are seeing infect computers today just try to get the end-users to buy the removal tool ASAP-Right off the bat to sucker some folks into buying the tool to remove the virus from the very people who infected their computer.. Very sedacious (how ironic is that) LOL anyway are just waaaaaaay more destructive, harder to remove and financially scammy. A good computer repair service will have the tools to remove them most of the time. But they change so rapidly that Unless You move ASAP and take your unit to a computer repair service, or try to do a system restore you may have to back up your data and reinstall an operating system in a really bad situation. San Antonio Tx is affected by the recent daylight savings time update which when Congress first passed was huge issue and required actual updates to be installed.. Anyway I am rambling.. Viruses are bad for everyone but the antivirus companies.. Cellphones are next!

Courtney Pelzel