| MadSci Network: Computer Science |
They have similar meanings -- the computer virus was so named because it acts somewhat like a biological virus.
From Merriam-Webster Online:
2 b : any of a large group of submicroscopic infective agents... that are capable of growth and multiplication only in living cells, and that cause various important diseases in humans, lower animals, or plants...
4 : a computer program usually hidden within another seemingly innocuous program that produces copies of itself and inserts them into other programs and that usually performs a malicious action (as destroying data)
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Computer Science.