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Understanding Malware

Malware, meaning malicious software, is a term that is used to describe any script or software that's malicious in nature, like spyware, adware, and even virus infections, although most often when someone says 'malware' they're referring to adware of spyware. On this page we'll go through the different types of malware and what they do.

Adware -
Adware is software that displays advertising (banners, popups, etc) or redirects URLs Often this software is combined with a application that is provided at no charge (Freeware) as long as the user agrees to accept the advertising software. A perfect example is the P2P application IMesh, which used to be praised as one of the top music download applications. The only catch was that you had to agree to install software supported advertising that would not only slow down your machine, but show you constant ads in the form of popups while you were browsing the internet. Another popular example is the Smiley Central software.

Adware doesn't always warn you that it's going to be attached to your machine. Often, you'll download something and find out shortly afterwards that you're recieving unwanted popups on your computer.

If you are getting popups on websites you normally don't, or on your computer itself when no browser is open, then you have adware installed on your machine, and need to scan and remove it.


Spyware -
Spyware is computer software that obtains information from a user's computer without the user's knowledge or consent. It sits quietly in the background, collecting information to send on to it's publishers. Not only can spyware be hazardous for obvious reasons, because no one wants their private information shared without their consent, but because of the constant interactiong between the script and it's source, can slow down your machine drastically, and should be removed immediately.


Browser Hijacker -
This term covers a range of malicious software. The most generally accepted description for browser hijacking software is external code that changes your Internet Explorer settings. Generally your home page will be changed and new favourites will be added that point to sites of dubious content. In most cases, the hijacker will have made registry changes to your system, causing the home page to revert back to the unwanted destination even if you change it manually.

A browser Hijacker may also disallow access to certain web pages, for example the site of an anti-spyware software manufacturer like Lavasoft. These programs have also been known to disable Antivirus and anti-spyware software.

The best ways to ensure you don't get a browser hijacker? Don't use Internet Explorer, use Firefox.