can viruses or any malicious software damage system hardware?

Answer 1

They can if they run long enough (ie burning out the processor)

Answer 2

Yes,if you get a bios Virus it can tweak your system, over clock it, and fry it. And if you fix it and even format your hard drive as soon as you get on line your system will be sent the same packets,even if your IP is dynamic "changes when dropped",it will find you. Symptoms are ,fried mother board,power supply shut down, melt down, and even a fire can result.
The good news is,if you never pissed off a hack then the probability is less then 1 in 500,000,000 of some one doing that to you,because there are a lot of Punk Busters who hunt them down. You need to know ASS/LNG to do this to a computer, or even some older computers you can bios hack w/just c++ knowledge VIA cut and paste the hack and send the packets to the IP you hate,and it can fry that system.
How to stop it.
First respect every one cause it is better to make 1,000,000 friends then to make 1 enemy.
Second if you do have one...a bios virus, reboot your system go into your bios w/ the f key or Del key and look at your clock, if it is over clocked and you did not do it then you got one,restore to factory settings save and reboot. check it when ever you go to start up or shut down,and do not leave it on when not attended.
you need to track where the packets are coming from to solve it.
That is another question.
Hope it helps

Answer 3

yes and no. if the virus has the ability to flash a flash-rom/ram chip that holds the programming for the hardware.. for example the bios of your mainboard

Answer 4

i havent really heard of it damaging hardware but its eats away at the harddrive so i call that damage

Answer 5

YES THEY CAN. if left unattended to long.