Ok for all my readers I would like to say sorry. Last week had me pretty busy so I was unable to post. However this week I have managed to squeeze in some time.

The topic of discussion for this weeks blog is Antivirus/Adware/Spyware/Malware software.

What is it?
Why do I need it?
Which is the best one?

Ok so what is it? Better yet what is a virus? A computer virus is just like it sound. An unwanted infection of your computer files(sometimes the very important ones) that usually spreads throughout your computer just like it would your body. Now computer viruses come in a few different varieties. There is the Trojan Horse. The trojan usually hides itself under the guise of a solicited email or program that unknown to you houses an evil spreading virus that once in, can be hard to get out. It is also called malware. which is short for Malicious software. For more info check out wikipedia's defintion.

wiki- Trojan Horse Definition

Next is the computer worm. People dont really call it a virus. But to me, anything that is bad that gets on your computer without your consent or knowledge and does damage or uses resources is a virus. Worms can be really bad, the reason behind this is because they are self-replicating and don't require a file or program to attach themselves to. They can also travel through your network and corrupt anyone elses computer on your network. The best way to keep a worm out of your system is to have a good firewall and good antivirus definitions that are up to date. Here is a link to wikipedias version of a computer worm-

Wiki - Computer Worm

Now to go over Spyware and Adware. Spyware does not just "spy" on what you are doing. It does that and more. It can completely take over your computer, sometimes preventing you from doing simple things like accessing the control panel or my computer. Alot of times it can do "data mining" or "key logging" where it can find valuable information or just log every keystroke you input into your computer. Passwords and all.

Adware is software which displays advertisements, whether or not the user has consented. Alot of times it can be more malicious than just pop up advertisements.
Adware usually piggybacks with programs you install. Almsot all P2P software like Morpheus, Limewire and others have adware. If you try to disable the adware part it diables the program you want to use. Not kewl.
My personal favorites (not really) are spyware/adware removal tools THAT HAVE ADWARE OR SPYWARE IN THEM!!! This to me is the biggest con job ever. These guys need to be drug out their buildings and you know the rest


One company that gives away free adware removal tools that carry adware is:

LAVASOFT's ADAWARE (oh yes it is)

other adware infected programs are:

-Claria's Corporation Gator Software
-Exact Advertising's Bargain Buddies
- Alexa Toolbar, an Internet Explorer plug-in published by Amazon.com!!
-Any internet toolbar IMO is adware or spyware.ie yahoo or google toolbars
-Bonzi Buddy (which is targeted at your kids)

Those are just a few.

Also be wary of pop ups that look just like windows security center screens that tells you you have 65 trojans and you computer is massivley infected, just click here and start your free scan and removal of these viruses..... those are the worst of the worst. One program known to do that is call Antivirus Xp 2008. Extremely hard to remove. And at that moment you dont actually have 65 viruses, the pop up is lying to you trying to get you to click on it so you can be infected. So don't click on pop ups!!!!! Right click the window in the taskbar and click "close"

Ok, i'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for. So when people come to me asking why they have viruses and spyware and they are using AVG and Adaware. or Spysweeper. or Spybot. I kind of laugh inside. Don't expect your free software to catch everything, in fact some of it might be what is causing your problem. Why not spend 30-50$ on a good one year subscription of Antivirus/Antispyware software like

-Norton
-Symantec
-Mcaffe
-Trend Micro

These large companies have alot more money to spend on paying employees to keep up to date definitions of viruses released daily. Rather than the volunteer programmers that rely on advertisements revenues and donations for such software as AVG. In the end a 40$ investment is nothing for a years worth of piece of mind and protection vs. using the free stuff and always wondering why your computer is slow then when it finally crashes or gets taken over spending 150-300$ reformatting, reinstalling, recovering data from your corrupt computer.

So there you have it. live and learn.