About Viruses

* Viruses, Spyware, Malware: ?

Viruses, Spyware & Malware effect your computer in different ways. I will try to explain them in the order of 'nastiness'. Keep in mind this is just a simplistic overview and does not go into infinite detail of how Viruses, Spyware or Malware work. To learn that, you should do some research on the web.


1. Spyware, to some degree, is like the windshield on your car. While you are driving on the Internet super highway, your going to get bugs on your windshield. There is nothing you can do to prevent this. However, as you know, if you do not clean those bugs off your windshield regularly, they will make driving more and more difficult. You will need to slow down because you can no longer see very well. As your computer gathers these Spyware [bugs], your computer will also slow down. Spyware for the most part is just a nuisance, but some of them are designed to act like locksmiths. They open a doorway to your computer to allow Viruses or Malware to get in.


2. Viruses, on the other hand, are designed to make life difficult. Viruses can alter your registry, corrupt your system files, delete files, and pretty much ruin your whole day. Most viruses are designed to effect the computer they are on. However, there are some that are designed to self-propogate.[Which means they like to move to networks and / or other drives] Of course this makes destroying them even thougher.


3. Malware... [stands for Malicious Software] It is true to its name. It is malicious!!! Malware will generally send you up the wall or your computer out the window. As with the others, some Malware is somewhat benign. But most of them are downright nasty. A lot of them show up as 'fake' anti-virus software that will not allow you to do anything on your computer but watch this thing pretend to scan your computer, then try to get you to spend money to 'remove' the infections. Behind the curtains however, the author(s) of these gems are trying to get your money by first getting you to "buy" their software and secondly by getting your credit card numbers.

So why doesn't your Anti-Virus software handles this stuff? Well, the answer is rather lengthy. The people creating these "viruses" come from all over the world, and they are sitting in front of their computers writing these things 24/7. (the why is irrelevant) So now, the anti-virus companies need to do several things:


• Recognize that there is a new virus signature out there
• Dissect and figure out what makes it tick
• Write the code to destroy it
• Get that update out to your computer

Unfortunately this all takes time. And within that time, you are vulnerable.