In these days, crime almost happen everyday and everywhere. It is dangerous to wander to some places without being extra careful or some security. The same goes with visiting the World Wide Web. In the streets, there are kidnappers, killers, snatchers, etc. In the internet, the causes of dangers are malware, viruses, etc. These things are dangerous to the life of your personal computer.
There are different kinds of malicious programs found on the net. They are malware, viruses, trojans, spywares, worms, and bots. Some programs that are apparently useful contain features with malicious intent. Malware is the common used name for any malicious program purposed to penetrate, spy on or harm a computer or other programmable device or system of sufficient difficulty, such as a personal computer, network, cell phone, PDA, robots or automated devices. Viruses are applications which are able to duplicate their structure or effect by integrating themselves or references to themselves into existing files or structures on a penetrated machine. They usually also have a nasty or humorous payload which are designed to modify or threaten the procedures or data of the host device or system without permission. Examples of these are deleting, corrupting or hiding information from the computers owner. Trojan Horses or simply trojans are programs which pretend to do one thing, but they are really stealing or altering information or causing problems on a computer or programs. Programs that are surreptitiously monitor keystrokes or other action on a computer system and report that information to others without consent are called spywares. Worms are programs that can replicate themselves over a computer network and also perform malicious acts that may ultimately affect a whole economy or society. And lastly, there are bots that take over and use the resources of a computer system over a network without permission, and communicate those results to the person controlling the bots. The previously mentioned concepts overlap and can obviously be combined. The terminology, as well as the dangers concerned, is constantly evolving.
With such dangers on the online community, internet security programs are a necessity. Antivirus and anti-spyware programs help battle these threats.
Antivirus programs are used to detect and eliminate viruses. They can be downloaded or purchased on the internet. Some programs are not as efficient as other in finding and eliminating viruses and malware, so take extra care. And also be careful, because some sites promote programs that say that they are providing protection from viruses, but in reality, are trying to install malware by disguising it as something else.
Anti-spyware programs, on the other hand, help detect and eliminate security threats found on the web, such as spyware and adware. As antivirus programs help detect the big threats, they can sometimes ignore the small but annoying threats. This is where anti-spywares comes into action. While online, they prevent tracking cookies, spywares, and adwares to be installed in your machine.
Antivirus and anti-spyware programs can be used simultaneously to a greater effect. They do not cause any problems when used at the same time.
Additionally, there are also firewalls that help with internet security. They have two basic functions. First, they help protect your system from unsolicited scans that are found online. Secondly, they usually present outbound control. An inbound scan may be looking for a trojan on your computer while outbound controls watch for a trojan or spyware attempting to call out from your system.
Even with these protections, care should be practiced when surfing the net. As internet security programs are constantly evolving, so are the threats and malicious programs.
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