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Virus or Spyware - What's the Difference? |
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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 search and destroy"
and "Adaware 6.0" and I also use
Counter Spy 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.
About the Author:
Article by Dave Fraser.
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