FixIt99.com owner, Mike Scherenberg, digs through the web to help discuss weekly technology issues, concerns or general questions.
This week's article is one of the things most of our customers are confused about, "What's the difference between Viruses, Spyware and Adware"?
One of the biggest slowdowns of a PC is caused by viruses, adware, or spyware. This accounts for almost 80% of the reasons a PC may have slowed down. Are you protected?
What is a virus?
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 opening email attachments, executing a program accidently online, or sharing files. Viruses often copy themselves from file to file, and transmit themselves over networks. A virus may infect an e-mail or a web page, then attempt to infect the computer system of anyone who accesses those e-mails or web pages. Before network connections were prevalent in the home, viruses commonly spread when people exchanged floppy disks containing infected games and documents.
When protecting a PC with anti-virus software, it is important to only have one-piece of antivirus software installed at a time. Due to the nature of AV products, often files are locked or secured to prevent malicious viruses from infecting. With more than one layer of antivirus protection installed, it may cause system conflicts, making your system inoperable.
What is spyware?
Spyware, Malware, or Adware relates to the same thing. It is software that performs surveillance on a computer system, usually without the rightful owner’s permission. Spyware programs may log keystrokes, keep a list of web pages visited, spy on e-mail, or attempt to gain access to other sensitive information. Spyware may be responsible for reporting your browsing history to marketing companies, or sending your social security number to an identity thief. 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.
Spyware usually does not try to damage the host computer system, since remaining undetected is in its best interest. Spyware’s biggest problem is slowing down a PC. The amount of computer resources it uses up slows your system to a crawl. Adware is not a security problem it is more an annoyance especially when you have ten different programs trying to display ads.
Antivirus vs. Anti-Spyware
“If my computer has anti-virus software, how did I get infected with Spyware?”
That’s the thing; the two forms of malicious content are completely different. Just because you have the latest Anti-Virus software installed, doesn’t mean you’re also searching or cleaning Spyware or Adware infections. Often when we are fixing PCs remotely, we deal with users that have no Spyware protection.
A clean healthy PC should have multiple programs that help prevent and detect these threats.
Spyware, Malware & Adware are three unique threats and should each be treated independently of one another. There are many great FREE tools on the internet, along with a lot of bogus tools. Be careful when selecting and always do your research before installing.
FixIt99.com provides Remote PC Repair, anytime, anywhere and based in Cary, Il. With our flat rate service, there are never any hidden charges or surprise bills. Visit us online for more information, www.fixit99.com
