A question I am often asked is "What is the difference between viruses and spyware?" so I thought I would give a brief primer here as well as some tips to get rid of them.
Viruses
Viruses install themselves on your computer and then try to propagate, that is, spread to other computers. The main types of viruses are:
* Viruses
Viruses attempt to use other software programs to run. When the software program that it has hitched a ride on runs, it will run.
* Worms
Worms propagate through a network, looking for open doors and holes that they can exploit in order to get to another computer
* Trojan Horses
As the name implies, a trojan horse virus disguises itself as something that appears harmless.
Spyware
Spyware tends to be less harmful than viruses, although it can be indirectly harmful. Once it gets on your computer, Spyware tries to collect information about what you are doing on your computer. It intermttently sends this information out to the Internet to be collected by computers set up to receive this info. What kind of information is being collected? Mostly your Internet surfing habits. Detailed information such as this is highly valued by many companies because the info can be used to better market their products to you. For this reason there is a greater abundance of spyware programs than virus programs.
In more harmful cases Spyware can record your keystrokes and then send this information out to the internet to be recorded by another computer. Anything you type can be recorded and sent out to be deciphered.
In my work I don't run into many viruses or very harmful spyware. Mostly what I see is annoying spyware that collects surfing habit data, opens pop up ads on the user¡¯s computer and redirects users to web pages that contain advertisements.
How do I know if I have a virus?
It¡¯s hard to say, as often the symptoms that are assoiciated with a virus can also be associated with a software conflict. The best thing to do is run a virus scan.
How do I know if I have spyware?
This is easier to spot. Any of the following are good indicators that spyware is residing on your machine:
* You open up Internet Explorer and your home page has been changed to a different home page.
* You are getting pop ads even when you do not have Internet Explorer open.
* You get more pop up ads than usual when surfing the internet. These pop up ads often advertise online casinos and even more often they are advertising ways to clean your computer of spyware.
* It is taking longer to surf the Internet. Pages are loading slower.
I think I have a virus or spyware. What should I do?
You can try running a scan with your virus program. Sometimes this alone is enough to get rid of the malware, but often times it is not enough. If you don't have a virus program you can try using TrendMicro's free online virus program (trendmicro.com). I've had mixed results with this online scanner. Allow about 1 to 2 hours for it to run completely. TrendMicro also has a free online spyware scanner. (Both of these require Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher).
If you have tried the above and think you still have malware then it is probably time to call someone to get your computer and manually remove the malware.
You've gotten rid of the malware, either by calling someone or running scans. How do you prevent this from happening again?
This is probably the question I get asked second most often. I should note that there is no one method that will prevent 100% of all malware from getting into your computer. However there are steps that can be taken to minimize the possibility of this happening. Here's what I recommend.
* Be very careful of what you click on in an email.
If you are opening an email attachment, make sure you know who the sender is. If there is any question about who the sender is, simply do not open it. Look at the extension of the file in the file name. .doc indicates a Word document. .pda indicates an Adobe PDF document. .gif and .jpeg indicate a picture or photo. These are some of the more common attachment types. Be weary and more cautious with any other types.
* Be aware of what you are clicking on when surfing the Internet
If you can, stick to websites that you are familiar with or that have been recommended to you by friends. You can often get most of the info you need while staying inside the more well known and safe web sites. For example, if you want to read news you can go to google.com, click on news and get a plethora of news all while staying on google's own site. The same could be said for Yahoo.com
Wandering off into cyberspace no mans land could put you at risk especially if you go wandering in search of sites that lean more towards the shadier side. These types of sites are chock full of malicious spyware code. Think of it as going to a tourist destination and staying close to the nice resort and hotels vs. wandering into the red light district.
* Buy a good virus/antispyware program, keep it's definitions up to date and install a good firewall program
I've used and troubleshooted all the major virus programs. The one I use and recommend is Kaspersky. In my experience it does the best job of cleaning out malware. In addition I like it because it's small and can easily be put on and taken off. It's smaller size decreases it's chances of conflicting with other softare programs. The larger, bulkier programs tend to have more conflicts with other programs in my experience. With whatever program you get, make sure the virus definitions are the most recent. Kaspersky gets the most recent definitions once every hour automatically.
* Install a good firewall program
A good firewall program is like a good bouncer at a club. He keeps out unwanted guests. In addition a good firewall program will tell you if a program on your computer is trying to send information out to the internet. You can look at the program and if you decide it is not legitimate you can block the information from going out. Firewalls are seen by many as annoying because they ask the user about all traffic and not just bad traffic. It's up to the user to decide if the traffic should be allowed. For me this is a small price to pay for increased security.
I my opinion the best firewall program is also free. It is Zone Alarm free edition (go to my site for the direct link).
* If you have an old version of Windows upgrade to Windows XP. Once upgraded activate automatic updates.
Older versions of Windows have more security holes than the newest version and are more prone to being infected. Once you have Windows XP, make sure you turn on automatic updates. Doing this insures that your computer has all the newest security patches put out by Microsoft for it's operating system.
The problem of malware is one that will most likely be around for as long as the Internet is around. The best solution is prevention. By getting a good virus program and firewall, keeping Windows XP up to date and being careful where you click on the internet you can minimize your risk to these threats.
