Antispyware Software—don’t Surf Without It!

Antispyware software is an important tool for every computer user, especially if you spend any time on the internet. It’s a little realized fact that there are more spyware infections than virus infections out there. Far too frequently, people mistake spyware infections for virus infections. In fact, it may be useful to discuss the differences in the types of malware out there.

Viruses are perhaps the most famous of the internet parasites. Nearly everyone knows about them, and almost all computers are sold with antivirus software already installed. They can be transmitted by way of a drive-by download or user downloads from websites and emails.

Drive-by downloads don’t happen very much anymore, as they can be prevented with firewalls. Email downloads are also prevented by and large by email servers having partnerships with antivirus companies. Website downloads are still an avenue of concern for users. Most of the time, viruses will disguise themselves as useful or interesting programs to convince users that they may want them.

Viruses attack in a distinctive way. The most visible symptom, apart from the running disguises such as Antivirus2009, is that the computer starts to run slow and programs start to fail. The computer itself may crash under the pressure of running this software. These symptoms are universal among malware. What separates viruses from other bugs is that they will damage files on your computer. You may lose something as minor as your calculator, or some essential part of Windows may be destroyed.

Worms are some truly nasty bugs. They are often mistaken for viruses, but their methods of transmission and attack are distinct. The most frequent way that worms are spread is through messaging software, such as Instant Messengers and MS Outlook. Some online communities such as MySpace and AOL have been exploited as well. When one computer is infected, the worm will exploit their friends list and send them a message with a link. Once the receiving user clicks on the link, their computer is infected and it spreads through their friends list. Whole business networks have crashed this way.

Worm attacks will actually do physical damage to a computer. What they do is replicate themselves over and over again on a computer’s memory until the RAM card is filled up with useless information. Unless certain security measures are made beforehand, this often results in having to physically replace the memory cards on every computer infected.

Adware is a large classification of software, with which I will include spyware. The primary forms are Trojan Droppers, Downloaders, Backdoors and Browser Hijackers. They can all be transmitted in the same way as viruses, which lends to part of the confusion. They come in varying degrees of maliciousness, with the Droppers and Hijackers being the least malicious and the Downloaders and Backdoors being the worst. Droppers will only try to send you pop-ups and Hijackers will only redirect your browser. The Downloaders will do just that. They will bring more Adware to your computer and have, on occasion, downloaded viruses and worms. Backdoors are just flat out evil. They can do the same thing as the Downloaders, but they can also allow a hacker to actually get into your computer and take control of it.

Spyware is simply adware with the added ability to scan your temporary files to find browsing history and tracking cookies. They then upload this information to a remote server or hacker where your information, which may include credit card or banking information, gets processed and filed away. Then they send you customized advertisements in pop-ups, pop-unders, banners and browser redirections.

Rogue or corrupt security tools are an integration of various bits of spyware and adware technology used to make a user think they have a massive malware infection in order to steal their money. They make the pretense of selling you a security tool to this end.

Viruses and worms are the domain of antiviruses. For the rest, you need an antispyware program. It’s in your best interest to find one with a 100% removal guarantee.