What is a Bug? How Can It Affect My Computer?

“Computer Security Software”

The term ‘bug’ is used in a variety of contexts. Ordinarily, we refer to an insect when we talk about bug in our day-to-day lives. However, in the IT world, the definition of bug is slightly different. We talk of software bugs and computer bugs differently. When a computer starts behaving erroneously or is not working the way it ought to be, we say that the computer is ‘bugged’. Now, you must have got a faint idea as to what is meant by a computer bug. Any error or flaw with our computer system which may hamper its normal functioning is said to be a bug. It could be in its hardware or in the installed programs.

In software engineering, ‘bug’ technically means an error that might have crept in while programming, which escaped the attention of the software engineer, or during compilation of the program. Due to this error, the specific program might not work as intended and may fail to give desired results. Here we are specifically dealing with computer bug, because an end user of computers need not get into the details about a software bug. Though, there is nothing wrong in having a broad idea about the concept.

Often, computer bugs are the results of a software bug only. It is so, because there are numerous programs and software applications which keep your PC going, and any flaw in the underlying program may affect its proper functioning. It can also expose the PC to prevalent threats. In fact, we all know that any loophole or vulnerability in a computer’s software make it prone to a malware or virus attack. Any such vulnerability which ultimately leads a computer to behave erratically is a bug.

How Do Bugs Affect a Computer?

As discussed above, a bug is a defect of any sort in a computer system which may impair its normal functioning. Reasons could be numerous. A virus intrusion can also, in certain cases, be a cause of computer bug. A computer bug can bring about minor imperfections and benign changes in computer’s functioning or even lead to fatal outcomes like complete system crash down. Therefore, it is really important to detect and root out these bugs, so as to avoid serious troubles. The best way to tackle a bug is to have an updated computer security software programs installed on one’s PC. It is advisable that you go for a powerful antivirus solution which takes auto updates regularly, as and when they are available.