Spyware, Adware and Viruses

We've all heard about the various strains of Malware, viruses, spyware and adware , but how many of us know what they are or what the difference is between them?

The original form of malware was a virus. Originally they were innocuous program offshoots developed in the lab or by programmers working for companies such as Burroughs and they were really just a sideline which employees thought up for fun. Many old timers will remember the original viruses, which simply displayed an amusing message on the early terminals. Harmless, even quite amusing during the innocent 1970s era.

Things changed quickly, however, with the invention of the personal computer and the advent of the World Wide Web. Together with vastly increased interconnectivity came the rise of the malicious viruses – programs that had no purpose other than to harass and to destroy. The authors of this new kind of computer infection were driven by malicious intent and they were spread globally using the incredible penetration of the Internet. The Net made it a snap to communicate with almost anyone, almost anywhere in the world, and email revolutionized social and business communications, but in reality, these incredible advances just opened the door to the evils of malicious software.

As defenses against viruses grew better and anti-virus software grew more sophisticated, the virus designers had to up their game too, and nowadays the methods of introducing viruses into your PC or laptop are considerably more sneaky than they used to be. Viruses can be concealed in all sorts of software and media, ranging from music to movies and emails to word processing documents. The Internet is now where most of the malware which we experience comes from and anyone who connects to the Internet had better beware that they are not opening the door to the introduction of a malicious and destructive piece of code into their system.

The focus of viruses changed eventually, and what had started as sheer maliciousness morphed into a desire by the baddies to generate profits from their black skills. Nowadays, there's probably more Adware and Spyware around than the old-style viruses.

In the beginning, Adware was pretty innocuous software which was included with downloaded applications or utilities which the PC user sourced from the Internet. In many cases, the user agreed to the installation of the adware on his or her PC (this was normally included in the small print of the user agreement which most people never bother to read). The kinds of downloads included toolbars, useful printing utilities, copying programs, OS cleaners and so on.

In most cases, Adware is not destructive, being designed to facilitate the placing of adverts related to the user's browsing habits on the user's PC and the only negative consequence will be the slowing down of a user's system. You may find that your system slows down dramatically and you may be very irritated by the profusion of adverts presented to you, but in most cases, adware is non-destructive.

Spyware is the malicious cousin of adware. The definition of Spyware is software which can be installed on a computer system without either the knowledge or consent of the owner, and which allows a third party to take over control of the system for malicious ends. Spyware is usually used for criminal purposes and for monetary gain. Usually a hacker will hide the Spyware code in a useful piece of code which the owner of the PC will find attractive and which in most cases is easily downloaded from the Internet.

Activities which Spyware facilitates can include monitoring and reporting back on the user’s internet activities, delivery of unwanted advertisements, theft of personal information (credit card numbers, banking accounts and passwords etc.) and the rerouting of the user’s HTTP requests to advertising or adult sites.

You can see that the threats that the average user faces these days are wide-ranging and sophisticated. It's a good thing that the anti-malware developers have kept up with the bad guys, and we have very good protection available. There are some excellent anti-spyware and anti-virus programs which are available to the public and all sensible PC users should avail themselves of the opportunity to protect their PC.