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Keygen vs. Virus — What's the Difference?

Keygen vs. Virus — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Keygen and Virus

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Keygen

A key generator (key-gen) is a computer program that generates a product licensing key, such as a serial number, necessary to activate for use of a software application. Keygens may be legitimately distributed by software manufacturers for licensing software in commercial environments where software has been licensed in bulk for an entire site or enterprise, or they may be distributed illegitimately in circumstances of copyright infringement or software piracy.

Virus

A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea.

Keygen

(computing) A small program used to generate a license key used to unlock a trial version of software illegitimately.

Virus

Any of various submicroscopic agents that infect living organisms, often causing disease, and that consist of a single or double strand of RNA or DNA surrounded by a protein coat. Unable to replicate without a host cell, viruses are typically not considered living organisms.

Virus

A disease caused by a virus.
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Virus

A computer program or series of commands that can replicate itself and that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other files or programs which users later transfer to other computers. Viruses usually have a harmful effect, as in erasing all the data on a disk.

Virus

A harmful or destructive influence
The pernicious virus of racism.

Virus

A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure consisting of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and often causes disease in the host organism; such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms.

Virus

(uncountable) A quantity of such infectious agents

Virus

A disease caused by such an infectious agent; a viral illness.
He's got a virus and had to stay home from school.

Virus

(archaic) Venom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc.

Virus

(computing) A type of malware which can covertly transmit itself between computers via networks (especially the Internet) or removable storage such as disks, often causing damage to systems and data; also computer virus.

Virus

Any type of malware.

Virus

(figurative) Any malicious or dangerous entity that spreads from one place or person to another.

Virus

To send or infect an electronic device with a computer virus.
I'm just going to virus anyone who tries cheating on this game.

Virus

Contagious or poisonous matter, as of specific ulcers, the bite of snakes, etc.; - applied to organic poisons.

Virus

The causative agent of a disease, .

Virus

Any of numerous submicroscopic complex organic objects which have genetic material and may be considered as living organisms but have no proper cell membrane, and thus cannot by themselves perform metabolic processes, requiring entry into a host cell in order to multiply. The simplest viruses have no lipid envelope and may be considered as complex aggregates of molecules, sometimes only a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) and a coat protein. They are sometimes viewed as being on the borderline between living and nonliving objects. They are smaller than living cells in size, usually between 20 and 300 nm; thus they pass through standard filters, and were previously referred to as filterable virus. The manifestations of disease caused by multiplication of viruses in cells may be due to destruction of the cells caused by subversion of the cellular metabolic processes by the virus, or by synthesis of a virus-specific toxin. Viruses may infect animals, plants, or microorganisms; those infecting bacteria are also called bacteriophages. Certain bacteriophages may be non-destructive and benign in the host; - see bacteriophage.

Virus

Fig.: Any morbid corrupting quality in intellectual or moral conditions; something that poisons the mind or the soul; as, the virus of obscene books.

Virus

A program or segment of program code that may make copies of itself (replicate), attach itself to other programs, and perform unwanted actions within a computer; also called computer virus or virus program. Such programs are almost always introduced into a computer without the knowledge or assent of its owner, and are often malicious, causing destructive actions such as erasing data on disk, but sometime only annoying, causing peculiar objects to appear on the display. The form of sociopathic mental disease that causes a programmer to write such a program has not yet been given a name. Compare trojan horse{3}.

Virus

(virology) ultramicroscopic infectious agent that replicates itself only within cells of living hosts; many are pathogenic; a piece of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) wrapped in a thin coat of protein

Virus

A harmful or corrupting agency;
Bigotry is a virus that must not be allowed to spread
The virus of jealousy is latent in everyone

Virus

A software program capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of causing great harm to files or other programs on the same computer;
A true virus cannot spread to another computer without human assistance

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