History Main / ComputerVirusesAreComputerIllnesses

* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'': Virovirokun is an enemy found in chapter two that is based on a computer virus. They appear as sickly demons made from abstract shapes.

* ''WesternAnimation/WhateverHappenedToRobotJones'': In "Sickness", the Yogmans prank Robot Jones by inserting a virus-filled floppy disk into him while he's in sleep mode and he becomes very ill.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Transformers}}'':

* ''ComicBook/{{Futurama}}'': {{Parodied|Trope}} in the strip "Night of the Automated Dead;" Bender is tasked with sending a large order of "[[SoupIsMedicine robot chicken soup]]" to Chapek 9, a robot populated planet, as it is experiencing a robo-cold pandemic. Bender then [[GettingSickDeliberately gets the idea to become infected]] (by getting the inhabitants to sneeze on him) in order to get sick days off work, but instead of making him sick, it mutates and causes the RoboticUndead after Scruffy unknowingly dumps Bender's contaminated oil into a robot graveyard.

* ''Film/{{Flubber}}'': {{Discussed|Trope}}; Dr. Brainard asks his RobotBuddy Weebo why his wedding date disappeared from her calendar, causing him to risk missing it, then wonders if she's caught a virus. She admits she's been feeling a little feverish, and he feels her face and says, "You ''are'' a little hot." [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Actually]], Weebo deleted the entry herself because she's in love with him and is trying to scuttle the wedding.]]

* In the Pocket Books ''Franchise/StarTrek'' novel "Boogeymen," the ''Enterprise'''s computer gets infected with an aggressive computer virus, which is passed on to Data during a diagnostic. He promptly develops a feeling of weakness and fatigue, as well as experiencing pain for the first time, remarking that his head and limbs are "throbbing in a most unpleasant way." Dr. Crusher expressly compares his condition to the flu.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Not a virus; The Doctor gets annoyed with the crew whining over minor illnesses, but Kes tells him he can't judge since he's incapable of getting sick. To teach the crew a lesson, he programs himself to experience flu-like symptoms to show how well he will be able to handle it. Kes secretly changes the program to keep him sick longer than he anticipated, which makes him panic believing something is wrong with his program.

-->Turn off your computer and make sure it powers down,
-->Drop it in a forty-three-foot hole in the ground,
-->Bury it completely rocks and boulders should be fine,
-->[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill Then burn all the clothes you may have worn any time you were online!]]

* ''VideoGame/MegaMan10'': The plot revolves around [[FindTheCure finding a cure]] for a computer virus called Roboenza, which causes robots to have flu-like symptoms and eventually go rogue. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as Dr. Wily programmed the virus to have this effect.

* ''Website/HectorsWorld'': In the episode about pop-up ads, they say that clicking on pop-up ads could make your computer "sick" with viruses, and we see an image of a computer sneezing and with a fever.
* [[https://youtu.be/6UXGh0zutjo?si=9dtbnfuhN3oHNv_T Reality Bytes]]: The first official episode titled "Virus Alert" features Petey, an anthropomorphic desktop computer, downloading a crappy game from a dubious website and getting a virus from it. He gets bags under his eyes and vomits binary code at one point. His friends later [[FantasticVoyagePlot go inside of him]] to eradicate it.
* ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'': In the season 2 bit, "Computer Virus," Ozpin, Port, Oobleck, and Winter are confused as to what could've given their computer a virus, but then Penny walks by and sneezes, causing pop-ups to appear on the screen.
* In ''WebAnimation/TheTrashPack'' episode "Snot My Problem," Scummy Screen, a living busted computer, ends up with a virus downloaded onto him, due to Trash-a-Pillar clicking a link that said to "download this virus to win a million dollars" ([[ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime it seemed like a good deal at the time]] for the ''both'' of them). It leaves Scummy weak and sickly, with his complexion going pale and him sneezing out buckets of snot.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The ''Website/SCPFoundation'' tale [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/excerpts-from-training-seminars-for-lesser-known-foundation Excerpts from Training Seminars for Lesser-Known Foundation Careers]] plays with this in the 'Computational Epidemiologist' section, explaining that there are things called 'Organic Interface Viruses' which are capable of using humans as carriers between computers, and sometimes mutate to infect them; the result of these infections is described as such:

\\

** The same excerpt also describes a computer virus as giving your computer "the digital equivalent of herpes."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E11MarsUniversity Mars University]]", Bender says that he should take the members of Robot House, the robot fraternity, to Tijuana so that [[NerdsAreVirgins Fatbot can lose his virginity]]. In the [[WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue epilogue]] it's stated that Bender took the Robot House members to Tijuana, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything where Fatbot got infected by a computer virus and had to be rebooted]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans:'' The episode "[[Recap/TeenTitansS3E4Crash Crash]]" focuses on Cyborg getting a computer virus after Beast Boy mistakenly inserts a disk containing a bootleg video game into his recharging station instead of his computer, causing him to hallucinate and become an ExtremeOmnivore. The Titans are then forced to form an alliance with Gizmo of the Hive Five in order to [[FantasticVoyagePlot go inside Cyborg]] and save him. The virus has the appearance of [[MonstrousGerms demonic bacteriophages]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Transformers}}''
** ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'': In "[[Recap/BeastWarsS1E22TheLowRoad The Low Road]]", Tarantulas infects Rhinox with an energon discharge virus, which causes him to literally sneeze himself to death. Inverted when Optimus Primal cures him using a counter-virus.
** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'': PlayedForDrama; in "[[Recap/TransformersPrimeS1E13SickMind Sick Mind]]", Optimus Prime is infected with an engineered bioweapon called "cybonic plague," which he caught after entering an autobot plague ship. Bumblebee is then sent to obtain the cure from Megatron's mind. It isn't made abundantly clear whether this is a computer virus.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie'': The computer viruses from the dark web have the physical appearance of real viruses and tend to sneeze frequently.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS6E30TheBuddy The Buddy]]", Anais and Jamie are tasked with finding out who gave all the library computers a virus. As seen in the above image, the computers have a [[GreenAroundTheGills green gradient]], are wearing ice packs, sweating, and are surrounded by used tissues. However, Bobert, who is also infected, does not display these symptoms whatsoever.

It's not at all like that. It's worse, because a soup can in your head will kill you. Most victims of mutated [=OIVs=] actually survive."

Fictional malware can be difficult to write accurately to its [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware real life counterpart]] in a comedic cartoon setting while staying entertaining, but most of the time [[RuleOfFunny it's not accuracy these writers care about]]. Sometimes malware wipes out entire computer systems overnight, causes machines to malfunction comically or even fatally (neither of which are '''''too''''' far from reality), [[KillerRobot turns robots evil]], and then sometimes makes robots sick, [[DoubleMeaning taking the "virus" in "computer virus" literally]] and being what this trope is about.

This (typically comedic) trope is far more prevalent in media aimed towards a younger audience, especially WesternAnimation. It started out as an overused {{Pun}}, but has somewhat managed to evolve into its own thing over time. Two examples are as a way to justify giving robots their own [[SickEpisode sick episodes]] or lightheartedly teach children about malware.

--> Turn off your computer and make sure it powers down,
--> Drop it in a forty-three foot hole in the ground,
--> Bury it completely rocks and boulders should be fine,
--> [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill Then burn all the clothes you may have worn any time you were online!]]

--> "...imagine the data structure of a computer trying to impose itself on a human brain. It's... not pretty. Imagine your brain, replaced with a can of Campbell's chunky soup. Now imagine that can being dumped into the Marianas Trench, and bursting under the pressure.
-->
--> It's not at all like that. It's worse, because a soup can in your head will kill you. Most victims of mutated [=OIVs=] actually survive."

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS6E30TheBuddy The Buddy]]", Anais and Jamie are tasked with finding out who gave all the library computers a virus. As seen in the above image, the computers have a [[GreenAroundTheGills green gradient]], are wearing ice packs, sweating and surrounded by used tissues. However, Bobert, who is also infected, does not display these symptoms whatsoever.

* ''WesternAnimation/RobTheRobot'': In "[[Recap/RobTheRobotS1E51SpaceVirusBlues Space Virus Blues]]", TK, Orbit and Rob are infected with the blue space virus, which causes TK and Rob to sneeze and Orbit to jumble his words. It is implied to be a computer virus as it only affects robots and is cured using an antivirus program by the robot doctor.

** ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'': In "[[Recap/BeastWarsS1E22TheLowRoad The Low Road]]", Tarantulas infects Rhinox with an energon discharge virus, which causes him to literally sneeze himself to death. Inverted when Optimus primal cures him using a counter-virus.

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Indexes: {{Indexitis}}, RobotRollCall