Eli5 – How are computer viruses created without destroying the creator’s computer first?

Question

I’ve always wondered how computer viruses are made. If someone creates a virus on their own computer, wouldn’t it infect and potentially destroy their system first before it’s spread to others?

In: 249

Answer 1

The viruses could harm the creator’s computer if they didn’t program it very well. The viruses are typically designed to run at a certain moment and the programmer would know how to avoid the virus from running on their computer. But an amateur programmer could do bad programming and have it run on their computer, it’s happened many times I can guarantee it.