What is Malware?

Malware is an acronym for MALicious softWARE and is a general term describing all possible types of malicious software that seek to damage your computer, destroy your data or inconvenience you in other ways. The definition includes viruses, spyware, adware and trojans and there are a number of possible ways for malware to get onto your computer.

In the early days it was common for malware to be spread between computers by infected files hidden on floppy disks. Floppy disks are not used so much any more, so are no longer the most common infection method.

Nowadays the most common way to pick up a virus infection or other type of malware is by opening suspect email attachments or inadvertantly visiting particular websites. In most cases you have to open the attachment or download a file before your computer becomes infected, but there have been a few specific viruses that can be spread simply by reading or previewing an email (e.g. Kakworm and Bubbleboy). If you are unlucky enough to come across one of these viruses your computer is very likely to become infected without an antivirus program.

What Can be Done to Prevent Malware Infection?

So long as you are aware of the possible transmission methods you can protect your computer from most malware infections by the following 'common-sense' methods:

• Do not open email attachments if they are not from a known/ trusted source.
• Do not read or preview emails if they are not from a trusted source.
• Be careful which websites you visit.

These methods will protect you up to a point, but it is obvious that they will not prevent 100% of malware infections. For this you need an antivirus program. Most modern antivirus programs protect against all types of malware, not only viruses. If you choose a suitable one you do not need a separate anti-spyware program or adware remover.

Other Threats

There are other threats to computer security that do not necessarily involve malicious code. These often take the form of hoax email messages prompting the user to take some sort of action. A common example of this is the practice of 'phishing' where the email message attempts to trick the user into thinking the message is from their bank asking them to confirm security details.

If the user follows the hyperlink in the email they are often directed to a convincing looking website that looks very much like a genuine bank website. Any user details entered on these websites are collected by the criminals running the phishing scam and used to withdraw funds from the genuine online banking site. Most computer users nowadays are aware of phishing so will not follow the links in the emails and enter their bank details. There must, however, still be a significant number of people who fall for the scam otherwise the hackers would stop and move onto something else.

See the Antivirus programs page for virus information, reviews, feature lists and recommendations on different antivirus programs available today. There are links to the manufacturers websites so that you can choose which one you want, download it today and protect your computer immediately.