Infotaxis Blog

Before you read, note that this article is meant for the less technically adept, those who would normally worry about a virus. If you’re the type who’s been reading my GPU comparisons, overclocking instructions, or processor workings articles, you probably belong on one of those pages instead, heheh.

The amount of concern for spyware and viruses is astounding and blown out of proportion. Niether of these is really a big problem. I’ll explain what I mean, but first you’ll need some background information.

Both viruses and spyware are bits of code that are designed to do something that you don’t want to happen. They are both “infections”, which means that they spread and replicate. Viruses and spyware are essentially the same thing, and the major difference is their intention.

Spyware is meant to “monitor your browsing habits” and display “targeted ads”. This basically means that it slows your effective Internet speed while browsing, and creates many popups. Spyware can get onto your computer in one of three ways:

• You download and install a program, and spyware was hidden within it.

• You download and install a program, and spyware was bundled with it (i.e. it tells you).

• You browse to a website, and it uses glitches and exploits in the browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.) to infect you without any warning or action on your part (keep in mind that modern email clients like Outlook and Thunderbird act as web browsers when they show you your email).

This software pretends to have a legitimate purpose, and usually warns you in some small way that it will be installed. It is so widespread because of this, as it cannot be legally prohibited. Viruses are a bit different, and you can get them in several ways as well:

• You download a file, and it either plants a virus silently (common) or simply was a virus (tiny filesizes in the dozens of KB or less indicate this), and you are then infected.

• Someone deliberately puts it on your computer (hacking). This is extremely rare, and unless you are a massive corporation with valuable data, this is almost certainly never going to happen to you.

• Another virus or a piece of spyware set up a “back door” (access for programs or people to use your computer remotely), and the virus entered this way.

With all of these in mind, anyone would assume that it’s nearly impossible not to get a virus, or some spyware, and take action with some software. WRONG - This is what the companies who make this software perpetuate. The average user is likely to never be infected with a virus, so anti-virus software would do them little good. Anti-spyware programs do litle to prevent most of the ways you can be infected. These pieces of software are truly only useful when a computer has already been infected, and they do a good job only at reducing the level of infection (yet almost never fully clean it). The truth is that short of being a technician, and being able to analyze and isolate viruses and spyware, removing them manually, there isn’t much you can do once you’ve been infected. The key here is to preventthe infection in the first place.

You’re probably thinking that if I’ve told you the software is nearly useless, what do you do to prevent infection?

• Don’t download programs unless you’re absolutely certain that it’s safe. *See below…

• NEVER click on popup ads, as they often lead you to websites that distribute spyware.

• Don’t install programs from places like Yahoo, AOL, MySpace, and similar places - these programs will not give you a terrible spyware infection, but they do often carry various bits of code to spy on you and your computer use, which slows down your machine. If you want to use things like AIM, there are many third party alternatives that are completely clean and work with the AIM network (and others) - I recommend Pidgin..

Also, many popup ads will try to trick you. They make the ad look like some kind of error message sometimes, and if you think about it - what are they advertizing? They want more people to go to their site so that they can infect you, and make more money. Every time someone clicks on an ad (which infections of spyware make it hard to avoid), the people who forced you to view it get money.

*Finally, how do you determine that software is safe? If you can Google for it, and it is on a number of websites, has reviews, etc., it is likely safe. If you really want a piece of software, but you’ve never heard of it, run a search and see if you can find a few people touting how useful the software is. You’re much less likely to find a piece of software that gives you a virus being spoken highly of.

You need an extremely comprehensive knowledge of the computer and it’s software to really be safe from viruses - I only get one once a year or so, and usually it’s because I’m desperate for a piece of software or information and don’t mind risking my system. I can always fix it, but most people can’t afford that luxury. Don’t risk your system by clicking on an ad or playing some little game you downloaded - be smart.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 10:41 am and is filed under articles, internet, windows. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.