History Main / ComputerVirus

* ''Series/{{Airwolf}}''. Dr. Moffett, the evil creator of Airwolf who gets killed in the pilot, left a virus in Airwolf's computer system that activates in "Moffett's Ghost". Exposition on what a computer virus is had to be included in the episode given that it aired in TheEighties.

* Floppy disc-transmitted viruses used to be a major feature on the computing landscape, before [[TechnologyMarchesOn technology marched on]] and they were replaced by malware that leveraged the Autorun feature for [[PlugAndPlayTechnology plug-n-play]] software in optical discs and USB flash drives. One of the most notable and infamous viruses that spread in this way was the legendary Friday the 13th Virus, also known as the Jerusalem Virus.

* ''[[https://malware.wikia.org/wiki/Lose/Lose Lose/Lose]]'' is a "game" trojan that looks and plays like an old space-shooter like ''VideoGame/{{Galaga}}'', but with one key difference: every enemy killed in the game will delete a file on your computer. Depending on how far into the game the players progress and how high they score, it's even possible to delete system files and render the computer unusable.

* In ''Cyber Road'', the main villain is an ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland''-themed virus who corrupts data with her mere presence.

* ''VideoGame/Code7'' is named after the computer virus developed by the [[AIIsACrapshoot evil A.I.]] called S.O.L.I. He plans to use it to convert other {{AI}}s and [[KillerRobot robots]] to his side, so he can KillAllHumans. Because of this, one of your main goals in the game is to learn what Code 7 actually is and try to stop it.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_Worm Storm Worm Trojan horse]], a professionally produced virus, can show how scary one of these things can be. Collectively, the computers it has infected form a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_botnet botnet]] that was once of the most powerful supercomputers ''in the world''. [[OrSoIHeard Some people even thought it was a fetal]] AI.

* Similar to the ''Mega Man'' example with ''{{VideoGame/Retrovirus}}'', the similar ''{{VideoGame/NeonXSZ}}'' also involves a computer virus running throughout a computer system, this time with Viruses and Malware separated into two factions. Unlike ''Retrovirus'', however, the player can choose to side with them.

* In an episode of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' [[spoiler:titled "Recipe for Turnabout", a computer virus called "MC Bomber" is used in a trial on the death of Glen Elg. It was originally thought to be a music CD.]]

* ''Film/{{Westworld}}'': Present in UnbuiltTrope form way back in 1973--or alluded to, at least. The film never explains ''why'' the scarily realistic humanoid robots are malfunctioning, but the head programmer notes that that malfunctions are increasing in frequency and spreading throughout the three parks. After he uses the word "contagious", a more skeptical programmer shoots back "I must confess I find it difficult to believe in a disease of machinery."

* These are the main 'villains' which Dual and Dorothy must 'compress and delete' in ''Anime/GarakowaRestoreTheWorld''. [[spoiler:Partially subverted. Mother released updates to view fragments of programs as viruses. Deleting worlds has created more of these.]]

* ''Film/{{Westworld}}'': Present in UnbuiltTrope form way back in 1973--or alluded to, at least. The film never explains ''why'' the scarily realistic humanoid robots are malfunctioning, but the head programmer notes that that malfunctions are increasing in frequency and spreading throughout the three parks. After he uses the word "contagious", a more skeptical programmer shoots back "I must confess I find it difficult to believe in a disease of machinery."

* In ''Franchise/TheMatrix Trilogy'', Agent Smith goes from being a program created to police the Matrix to being able to copy himself over other programs and even people after being killed by Neo at the end of the first movie. It's ironic considering his "humans are a virus" rant to Morpheus earlier in the same film.
* In the film ''Film/{{Hackers}}'', there's a virus named Da Vinci that threatens to sink an oil tanker fleet that drives much of the plot. Near the end, hackers around the world barrage a mainframe with such viruses as "Cookie Monster", which is defeated by typing in "cookie".
* ''Film/{{Cyberjack}}'': A group of terrorists seize control of a tech company so they can steal the computer virus that they were developing, which caught their attention earlier when the virus briefly 'escaped' and [[EverythingIsOnline caused a plane crash]]. Goes into full-on HollywoodScience when the main villain ''merges'' himself with the virus to [[GodhoodSeeker become god]], gaining {{Telepathy}} in the process.

* The BigBad of ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' is a ''self-aware'' computer virus by the name of Venjix. Within three years of its release onto the internet it had ''nuked the planet'', presumably by getting access to [[EverythingIsOnline military computers]]. [[spoiler:He survives the events of the series and comes back to haunt a new set of Rangers in ''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers'' as the series' BigBad, Evox.]]

* Subverted on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' when Giles asks if they can use a computer virus to defeat a demon uploaded onto the internet. Jenny replies that he's seen too many movies.
* The way the Cylons disabled the Colonial Fleet in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' was often described as a Virus, though in reality it was a backdoor that the Cylons placed during the development of a navigation program that most Colonial ships (military and civilian) used.
** An actual computer virus is, however, used in ''Valley of Darkness'' and gives the Fleet quite a lot of headaches in the following episodes before being purged.
* In ''[[Series/LoisAndClark Lois And Clark: The New Adventures of Superman]]'', a pair of "hackers" unleashed a "virus" called "The Ides of Metropolis" which was designed to destroy all "software programs" in every computer across America. In order to stop the spread of this malicious virus, Superman had to manually fly a 3.5" floppy disk with the antidote to three major backbone servers.
* The favored tactic of Christopher Pelant on ''Series/{{Bones}}''. He's so skilled he can even carve malware on bones that activate when image-scanned into a computer.

* Depending on your choices in ''VideoGame/{{Uplink}}'', you will be tasked with either spreading a computer virus intended to destroy the Internet, or spreading the antivirus meant specifically to stop it. You can also run the virus on your own gateway computer, but it's not recommended.
* In ''VideoGame/TronEvolution'' and VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh, virus-infected Programs are major enemies, and the source of the virus comprises one of the major boss battles. Of course, with the universe in question, computer viruses are treated as a de facto ZombieApocalypse.
* In an episode of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' [[spoiler:titled "Recipe for Turnabout", a computer virus called "MC Bomber" is used in a trial on the death of Glen Elg. It was originally thought to be a music CD.]]

** ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' takes place in a cyberworld fully-populated with advanced electronics, many of them with embedded systems that can be accessed via the Internet. Naturally, a large portion of your enemies are viruses, or malicious program-entities that could spawn viruses and {{Eldritch Abomination}}s referred to as Bugs.

* Similar to the above example with ''{{VideoGame/Retrovirus}}'', the similar ''{{VideoGame/NeonXSZ}}'' also involves a computer virus running throughout a computer system, this time with Viruses and Malware separated into two factions. Unlike ''Retrovirus'', however, the player can choose to side with them.
* Most of ''VideoGame/{{Galerians}}'' is spent looking for a Lilia, a LivingMacguffin with a computer virus [[NeuroVault stored in her head]]. Known simply as the Virus Program, it was created as a failsafe against an [[AIIsACrapshoot A.I. that was starting to go off the rails.]] The protagonist, Rion, has complementary activator program to stored in his head, so Lilia and Rion must be united in order to destroy the A.I. after it develops [[AGodAmI delusions of godhood.]]
* ''VideoGame/Code7'' is named after the computer virus developed by the [[AIIsACrapshoot evil A.I.]] called S.O.L.I. He plans to use it to convert other {{AI}}s and [[KillerRobot robots]] to his side, so he can KillAllHumans. Because of this, one of your main goals in the game is to learn what Code 7 actually is and try to stop it.
* The main plot point of ''VideoGame/{{Prismata}}'''s story mode is a virus going out of control.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded'', System Sector floors are occasionally infected with a generic virus that increases enemy strength and forces you to bet 100% of your SP on the SelfImposedChallenge.

* The backstory of the ''Franchise/DotHack'' games involves a powerful virus called "Pluto's Kiss" being released on the web on the Christmas' eve of 2005. It caused every computer and system connected to the Internet to crash simultaneously, causing an previously unseen amount of damage around the globe. The web itself was destroyed in the attack and all the info within was lost forever. In the aftermath, the Internet went back to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET ARPANET]] days and it took years to become available to the public again. During the investigation, it was discovered that one Operative System was immune to not only Pluto's Kiss but to all other known virus. Once the web became public again, said OS developed by ALTIMIT Company became by law the default OS in all new computer in order to prevent another Pluto's Kiss. Then CC Corp launched "The World", the first MMORPG available post crash, triggering the events of franchise.
* ''VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw'', being an early internet simulator, has a fair amount of viruses that you can contract through your in-game browser. [[spoiler:And then there's Mindcrash, which ends up actually ''killing'' [=HypnOS=] users.]]
* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' features [[spoiler:the Junko Enoshima AI, which operates as one and causes the entire plot, which all takes place inside a Matrix-like setting called the Neo World Program. She was installed into it by the protagonist's other self, [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Izuru Kamukura]] and corrupted what was supposed to be a peaceful simulation designed to undo the cast's despair brainwashing by the original Junko Enoshima prior to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt The Tragedy]]. She further plans to use BrainUploading to [[BodySnatcher steal everyone's bodies]] and reincarnate into the organic world. For no real reason, she also plans to do this to the rest of the remainder of humanity [[MotiveDecay despite the fact this would only intensify her boredom]] when her entire reason for everything she did beforehand, including causing the death of millions, was to not be bored.]]

* Viciously parodied in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue''. When Simmons is attempting to gain control of an enemy computer system and explaining the complications of doing so , Griff says "try uploading a virus into the mainframe, I find one with a laughing skull works the best."

* In various ''Website/GoAnimate'' videos, there's the "Barney Error", which traps a person's computer on a screen mentioning how [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney]] was killed by a random person and had a bomb placed in their lair. They are told not to touch their computer for 24 hours lest the bomb goes off. Attempts to circumvent this tend to lead to the countdown speeding up quickly to the final ten seconds, where they must put in a code or they lose everything. It depends on the creator on how successful the infected is on stopping it.
* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' Volume 2, Cinder is able to infect Beacon with a trojan horse, which allows her inside access to everything within the school. This gets passed further in Volume 3 when Ironwood places his Scroll on Ozpin's desk, causing it to be infected and giving her access to Atlesian information [[spoiler:like who Penny really is.]]
* PlayedForLaughs in ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'' where Winter, Ozpin, Ooblek and Port are confused as to why their computers are infected when they have some of the best defenses. [[spoiler:Then, Penny walks by and sneezes, causing Winter to gawk in utter confusion.]]

* The trolls in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' contain two people who use viruses - Sollux, a hacker who creates really effective viruses, and Karkat, a script kiddie who calls himself a programmer but who gets Sollux to do all the hard work for him. The troll story starts when Karkat [[TooDumbToLive runs a ridiculously dangerous virus created by Sollux on his own computer in a fit of blind pique]], blowing it up and putting a {{Curse}} on himself, all his friends, and everyone he will ever meet.
* The page image is from ''Webcomic/{{Gunshow}}'''s ''Webcomic/TheAnimeClub'', where a virus titled killallnerds.exe is designed and deployed against the titular club members to delete all of anime movies and episodes on their hard drive. [[spoiler: They use it back against those responsible in the end.]]

* Personified with Megabyte of ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot''. His "sister" Hexadecimal is a little more unpredictable but less actively malicious.
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' gave us the Doomageddon virus, disguised as [[spoiler: Error 220. The only way it could get destroyed was to smash the computer with a hammer.]] In its physical form, it resembled a bacteriophage.

* In "Hard Drive Courage" in ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'', the Computer Virus is the MonsterOfTheWeek, causing the Computer to spark up in smokes, kidnapping Muriel into the Computer's hard drive, and attacking Courage when he enters the hard drive as well to save her. They feed it Muriel's special Gelatin, cauing its illness to go away and make it leave.

* [[https://malware.wikia.org/wiki/MEMZ MEMZ]] is a trojan that, unlike many kinds of viruses, was not created with malicious intent and was instead intended to be shown off on Youtube. The effects it can have on the computer when launched, however, are still very devastating: over the next several minutes, it will cause the cursor to move on its own, open various Google searches, play error messages, taunt the user, and eventually cause the screen to flash before creating a collapsing tunnel effect. Attempting to halt the program once it is activated will cause it to bluescreen the computer. Furthermore, once the program is activated, it will automatically overwrite the computer's boot sector: even if the trojan's other payloads can be stopped, the computer will be rendered completely unusable upon being rebooted, with only a looping image of "Nyan Cat" playing on start-up.

* ''Film/{{Cyberjack}}'': A group of terrorists seize control of a tech company so they can steal the computer virus that they were developing, which caught their attention earlier when the virus briefly 'escaped' and [[EverythingIsOnline caused a plane crash]]. Goes into full-on HollywoodScience when the main villain ''merges'' himself with the virus to [[AGodAmI become god]], gaining {{Telepathy}} in the process.

* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'', when Robo-Robotnik takes back Mobotropolis, Snively, in one of his HeelFaceTurn moments, installs a computer virus that kicks in whenever Robo-Robotnik attempts to access the location of Knothole. As he does so through his robotic body, Robo-Robotnik comes down with a cold, which puts him out of commission from time to time.

Having said this, there ''are'' virus building kits, built by [[TheCracker (groups of) black hat hackers]] as per the above description, allowing essentially anyone with nefarious purposes, capable of wielding a mouse, and only little if any knowledge of the target system (usually called "script kiddies") to whip up a virus, worm or Trojan in a relatively limited time. The resulting malware is generally meant to work against known security weaknesses in widely-used programs or operating systems, on the basis that someone, somewhere will not yet have his system patched, and the larger the installed base, the higher the number of unpatched systems and the higher the chance of getting a sufficiently large number of them infected (a measurement of the success of a virus). But even those kits require getting familiar with their workings, just like any other computer program, and they will certainly work no better against the command and control systems of an invading alien fleet than throwing toothpicks at them.

Furthermore, the term "virus" technically only refers to a program that infects other programs or files. If it just infects other machines without attaching itself to programs, it's a worm. No matter what the type of malware, media will typically refer to it as a virus.

** Conficker: Updated itself automatically and killed off Anti-malware programs. Exactly what the botnet was going to be usef for after it was assembled is unknown.

** Conficker: Updated itself automatically and killed off Anti-malware programs.

* In ''Literature/ThePillarsOfReality'', computers are rare, so viruses (called "contagions") are even rarer. Only a few people even know that such a thing can be done, let alone how to fix it, so when one is discovered, its very existence is perhaps more alarming than what it was actually doing.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "A Glitch is a Glitch" has Ice King upload a virus to the Universal Source Code of Ooo, deleting everything so that he and Princess Bubblegum are the last two people in the universe. The virus looks like a glitchy Ice King head with cursor arrows for eyebrows, and it physically eats bits of code. Finn and Jake defeat it by [[spoiler: grossing it out and causing it to throw up the code.]]

* The BigBad of ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' is a ''self-aware'' computer virus by the name of Venjix. Within three years of its release onto the internet it had ''nuked the planet'', presumably by getting access to [[EverythingIsOnline military computers]].

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's song "Virus Alert" is about the escalating effects of a computer virus, the effects of which apparently include screwing up the PH balance in your pool, making you [[BestialityIsDepraved attracted to sheep]], tearing a hole in reality, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking leaving Twinkie wrappers lying around]].