They are not only growing in numbers, but growing in complexity that they are en-likened to their real-life counterparts that mutate and give doctors and geneticists a hard time to treat. Major software developers mainly in the anti-virus/malware area have been finding it very difficult to remove and provide cures for the damage they do. This may be a sign of hard times to come when it comes to viruses and other forms of malware that have more than one instances in their databases. This has become so much of a danger that a single virus may have a hundred or so variants all having individual differences with the damage they cause rising exponentially. The initial discovery of a virus may be the first time it encounters virus detection experts who dissect them and find out how they work from the inside out allowing them to provide updates to already installed protection software allowing detection and removal. The instances when these software use the Quarantine facility is when the damage is too severe and cannot be repaired or that the software recognizes it but is not quite sure which one it is. That is why these software have facilities to submit these errant files to their rapid response centers where they are studied and feedback is sent back to you to show you what the infection was and what happened to your beloved file.
They might simply be code but they are evolving everyday and they are doing so in ever complex ways. The initial code might have little resemblance to their variants and so is the damage they cause. Advice for the millions of users out there, keep your anti-virus updated as much as possible, also keep your operating system updated which has updates released to correct vulnerabilities that are discovered and if you do not have an anti virus software installed, better get one or you might be surprised to see a lot of garbage on your hard disk where your hard earned documents and other vital files used to be leaving you crying your pants out in utter disgust sending you towards endless overtime to re-do all the stuff you lost. Get email you don’t know the sender or am not expecting don’t open it.