+ Malware

What is Malware

Malware is the general term for adware, spyware, or any other software that presents ads, or collections information on a users computer usage habits. Malware is usually installed with free software or installed by websites supporting free content. Sometimes malware is packaged with software that is intended to block the effects of malware.

The effect of malware varies from product to product, but generally they are not user friendly. Common behavior includes showing advertisements, collecting information on users browsing and computer usage habits, causing your computer to operate slower, make it difficult to remove or uninstall the software, as well as modifying your system to redirect certain sites and traffic to the software maker.

What you can do about it

  • Use a well know independent spyware detector such as Spybot Search & Destroy. Non-independent spyware software may just ignore malware from certain companies.
  • Be careful when installing free software. Read through the Licence agreement for any indication of other software being installed. Open source software will never contain spyware, but due to the fact that its open source, a user could take it and repackage the software with spyware. Download open source software from the official site.
  • If a website asks to install software, make sure its from a trusted source. While Macromedia Flash or Sun Java is necessary to view dynamic content, companies make try to install malware through the same method. If a site asks to install software say no unless you know that its legitimate.
  • Install the newest patches for your operating system. For windows go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com or turn on automatic updates. Mac OS X users run Software Update or download the updates from Apple.
  • Firewall's will not prevent malware installations, malware is installed by users unknowingly.
  • Most spyware can install itself automatically on IE, use an alternative browser such as Opera and Firefox. But remember to keep these updated as they also have vulnerabilities from time to time (Though they do tend to release fixes sooner than Microsoft does with IE).
  • Most Anti-Malware applications will detect browser cookies as spyware. These are benign, they cant do anything to your computer but are used by advertisers to track repeat visits and browsing patterns when an ad providers ad is shown on a site. Cookies also have other uses and disabling them is not prudent.

Useful Resources

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