Virus or Spyware – What’s the diference?

This month’s article is one of the things I still find comes up as a frequent question, “what’s the difference between Viruses and Spyware”? I will try and clarify that here. One of the biggest slowdowns of a PC is caused by viruses, adware or spyware as it’s often called. Before you can benefit from any other optimisation tips or improvements you really need a system relatively free from those pests.

A virus is a piece of malicious software code written to cause some kind of damage to a computer system or network or even the Internet itself. Viruses spread, similar to their biological namesake, from one machine to another and can spread havoc wherever they go. They are most commonly spread by sharing files with others or through email attachments where they can be set up to send themselves to all the addresses in your email address book.

Adware is usually dowloaded and installed along with some other program without your knowledge and unlike a virus doesn’t spread by itself. Very often you click “OK” without reading the terms and conditions and by doing so you agree to have the files installed. An example is you see a “free” program on offer that you think might be useful and download it without thinking. Even some anti-spyware programs install adware and the website earns money from the ads that are clicked on.

The catch is that the extra files introduced are used to determine things like your surfing habits and the data is used to serve up popup ads or redirect your browser to a page other than the one you wanted. Some of the programs can be used to install keyloggers which can send back information about passwords and bank details etc. Adware is not a security problem it is more an annoyance especially when you have ten different programs trying show ads. The amount of computer resources it uses up slows your system to a crawl.

Spyware is more malicious and evil intentioned and is designed to steal something from you. It can be downloaded by visiting the wrong types of websites or along with other files the same way as adware. Spyware can often be hard to remove as it can continually recreate itself and hide somewhere on your hard drive.

Programs such as trojans can be used to allow access to hackers at a later date. From the story of the Trojan horse where the Greeks hid inside the wooden horse left as a peace offering and were wheeled in to the fort by the Trojans themselves. Then at night the Greeks crept out of the horse and opened the gates and let the enemy in. Trojans and adware unlike viruses don’t spread themselves.

It is wise to run more than one spyware checker as no one system gets rid of them all. You can never be certain you have every one removed because new ones may not have been discovered and the Spyware program doesn’t recognise it yet. I use the two free ones “Spybot” and “Adaware” and I also use http://www.pcsandthings.com/CounterSpy.htm which comes from a reputable company that specialises in removing spyware.

Sometimes people say to me “doesn’t my anti-virus software remove spyware”? Well the answer is most don’t and even if it does I always find a specialist product works best. Beware also of bogus spyware scanners available on-line which actually install their own spyware once they have removed their competitors. Sometimes you run a free scan and it finds all sorts of nasties but you will have to sign up and pay to remove them. I have even seen it that they find things that don’t exist or try to frighten people into believing they have lots of spyware when all they have are advertising cookies.

Cookies are small text files that websites leave on your system so that when you return they can customise the page that loads or they can count you as a returning visitor. They are harmless and most of them are useful. They can be easily removed by deleting them in your browser settings.

So you need to be running a suitable and up to date antivirus program and one or more Spyware checkers.

More tips can be gotten from my website at http://www.pcsandthings.com

About the Author

Dave tries to make your computing experience a bit less stressful and helps you to speed up your computer with free tips at www.pcsandthings.com

Written by mellow on November 30th, 2006 with no comments.
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Internet security for newbies

The Internet is full of information and data, we can use it at work and at home, for increased productivity or for a great source of fun. Unfortunately, the Internet has also many dangers inside. I’ll try to explain the basic things that can be done to keep away those dangers from your computer.

To keep you from troubles if you are connected to the internet you need: the latest service pack for the operating system and all hotfixes that were released, one antivirus that must has the latest database for virus signatures, one firewall to protect for brute force attacks or various exploits and one antispyware and antitrojan program. There are some programs that combine the antivirus, firewall and antispyware capability. Also, if you work a lot with emails, you might need a powerful email client who can provide anti-spam protection, because even if most of the spam mails don’t contain viruses, you might get them in such a large numbers that sorting them might become very difficult.

Of course, the most important thing is that no antivirus or firewall can protect you better than you can. What I’m trying to say here is that by watching what programs you run, what websites you visit and what emails you open, you can prevent most of the dangers. Another thing that can very helpful is doing periodic backup of your important files, because if a virus infects or deletes your files, you will need those files back. And by backing up your files, you can recover quickly in case that you need to reinstall your operating system, or, even worse, in case of hard drive crash.

In the end, I hope that this short guide gave some information that will prevent a few viruses and trojans from spreading. Because, that’s what most of viruses and trojans do : they spread, and if one of you gets away from such a virus, this means that many more were saved, because the virus could not get any further to others, maybe other one, but, much more likely, other thousands or even more. So, keep yourself away from viruses and help others do the same thing.

For more information on security related topics visit our website: http://www.securitysoftwarezone.com/

Eugen Blaga – Security Consultant at Security Software Zone

About the Author

Security Software Zone, comprehensive source for Free Downloads, Experts Reviews and Latest Security News

Written by mellow on November 30th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Internet Security.