tapacity

Source: SearchSecurity.com

There are all kinds of threats out there that can negatively impact your computer system.  Such threats are often called “malware.” Malware is short for “malicious software.” It is any program or file that can cause damage to your system. What types of malware are there?

Viruses — a virus is a program or programming code that replicates by being copied or initiating its copying to another program, computer boot sector or document. Viruses can be transmitted as attachments to an e-mail note or in a downloaded file, or be present on a diskette or CD. The immediate source of the e-mail note, downloaded file, or diskette you’ve received is usually unaware that it contains a virus. Some viruses wreak their effect as soon as their code is executed; other viruses lie dormant until circumstances cause their code to be executed by the computer. Some viruses are benign or playful in intent and effect (“Happy Birthday, Ludwig!”) and some can be quite harmful, erasing data or causing your hard disk to require reformatting.

Worms — a worm is a self-replicating virus that does not alter files but resides in active memory and duplicates itself. Worms use parts of an operating system that are automatic and usually invisible to the user. It is common for worms to be noticed only when their uncontrolled replication consumes system resources, slowing or halting other tasks.

Trojan Horses – a Trojan horse is a program in which malicious or harmful code is contained inside apparently harmless programming or data in such a way that it can get control and do its chosen form of damage, such as ruining the file allocation table on your hard disk.  A Trojan horse may be widely redistributed as part of a computer virus.

SpyWare — Spyware is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. On the Internet (where it is sometimes called a spybot or tracking software), spyware is programming that is put in someone’s computer to secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties. Spyware can get in a computer as a software virus or as the result of installing a new program

Browser Helper Object (BHO) – A Browser Helper Object, or BHO, is just a small program that runs automatically every time you start your Internet browser. Most BHOs are good, some are unwanted (not necessary harmful), and others can be malicious. Most BHOs help facilitate your browsing activity in Internet Explorer. The unwanted ones might do things like track what advertisements you click on, sending that information to another web site for marketing purposes. This type of BHO is often considered to be a form of “spy-ware” or “ad-ware.” The worst situation is when your browser is hijacked. Typically when this happens your browser is automatically redirected to another site you don’t want to go to. You cannot alter this without some special software to remove the hijacker.

How to protect you computer.