Frequently Asked Questions
What is malware?
What's the difference between the various kinds of malware?
What are cookies and are they dangerous?
How do I know if my PC is infected with malware?
How do I get rid of malware?
What do I need to do to keep my PC safe?
What does a personal firewall do?
What is identity theft and how can I prevent it?
If the worst comes to the worst, how do I recover from severe infection?
Q. What is malware?
A. Malware (short for malicious software) is a catch-all term for any software which is harmful to you or your PC. Malware can consist of viruses, trojans, worms, bots, adware, spyware and keyloggers. In fact any harmful infection can be classified as malware.
Q. What's the difference between the various kinds of malware?
A. Just like human viruses, computer viruses can vary in severity, from causing mildly annoying effects, to causing severe damage to files or applications on your PC and even damaging hardware. A Worm is a computer program which can replicate itself and send copies of itself from computer to computer. They often carry software which can cause considerable damage to the PCs which host them.
Spyware and Adware are generally contracted by browsing the Internet, as opposed to viruses and worms which are usually email-borne. Adware is the less dangerous type of infection, and can cause pop-up ads to appear on your PC and may cause your browser to direct you to websites which you didn't intend to go to.
Spyware is software installed on your PC which sends information to a third party, without your knowledge or permission. This information can be a record of your browsing habits, which sites you tend to visit and what you like to download. More chillingly, Spyware may be sending your personal information such as name, address, telephone and fax numbers or even details of your credit cards and bank account balances and logon and passwords.
A Trojan (short for Trojan Horse) is a piece of software concealed within a seemingly innocuous item - an email or a download - which can install a "backdoor" into your system so someone else can take control of your PC. A Bot (short for Robot) is an automated piece of software which allows your PC to be taken over and used, sometimes together with thousands of other infected PCs, to help execute Denial of Service attacks against other websites or to send out massive amounts of spam email messages.
Keyloggers are used to assist in one of the most harmful of activities on the Internet: identity theft. A Keylogger is a small piece of software which, once installed on your PC, can be used to record everything you type on the keyboard. With this information, criminals can figure out the logins and passwords for your bank accounts, and any codes you use to access secure information.
Q. What are cookies and are they dangerous?
A. Cookies are just pieces of text, created by websites which you visit in order to identify you to that site and to contain a small amount of information about you, such as your first name and perhaps the kind of goods you are interested in, or generally buy. This allows the site to improve your experience with them by personalizing your visit to that site. In general, cookies are harmless, but there have been instances of sites using cookies to track your web surfing habits across multiple sites in order to target advertising at you.
Q. How do I know if my PC is infected with malware?
A. There are many vendors of anti malware products who offer a free scan of your system. You can download a program from their website which will perform a total scan of your PC and inform you of any infections which are present on your system. Click the button at the top or bottom of this page and you can download and run a free scan with Spyware Doctor 8, which we recommend as the best anti spyware on the market at present.
Q. How do I get rid of malware?
A. Once you've determined that you have malware on your machine, you need to do two things: eliminate the threat, and make sure that you're not re-infected again.
Get the best protection software that you can afford and root out the existing infections by running the system scans and either quarantining or deleting the threats on your machine. Once your system is clean, set up a regularly scheduled scan of your system to identify and eliminate new threats. Most modern protection software includes code which acts as an always-on sentinel, picking up and blocking threats before they can take root in your PC.
Q. What do I need to do to keep my PC safe?
A. Advanced technology brings with it advanced hazards. . Here are some ways to stay safe when navigating the turbulent waters of surfing the Internet.
- Keep your operating system and your browser updated. Manufacturers are constantly raising the level of their threat security, so it makes sense to always have the latest versions on your PC
- Buy and install the best anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-adware software . These days, the reputable anti malware programs combine these tools into a single piece of software which offers good protection across the gamut of malware. Buy the best protection you can find.
- Install a good personal firewall. Firewalls are your first line of defence when surfing the Internet and a good one will block malicious software from accessing your PC.
- Be very careful about opening emails from unknown sources. Some very nasty infections are carried in emails, so make sure that your protection software is set up to scan incoming emails for problems.
- Wi-Fi is great, but be careful. Sure, it's convenient, but it's also radio transmission, and there are ways to listen in, or transmit on your frequency.
- Use strong passwords. The protection technology and software we have available to us now is very effective, but make sure that your passwords are difficult to guess. Otherwise, an intruder may well get into your system and disable your protection from within.
- Watch where you surf and what you download. Adult sites are notorious for spreading infections, while free downloads (except from reputable vendors) can carry nasty malware embedded in them.
Q. What does a personal firewall do?
A. Most routers these days come with a built-in hardware firewall, but it is essential to supplement this with a software firewall. Firewalls basically do two things: they hide your computer's IP address from the rest of the Internet, and they filter and block, if necessary, incoming and outgoing messages.
If a baddie can't see your IP address, this will dramatically decrease the chances of you being attacked by a hacker. If you're practically invisible to the Internet, the baddies will likely pass you by and focus on easier targets.
The filtering process can be set up to stop unauthorized access to your PC, i.e. to prevent incoming messages which are potentially dangerous from accessing and infecting your system. If a threat already exists on your machine, a firewall can prevent the intruder from sending information out, such as credit card information, banking details, passwords and other potentially damaging details.
Q. What is identity theft and how can I prevent it?
A. Identity theft is when someone steals your personal information with the intention of using it to commit theft or fraud. It's a very widespread criminal activity, and recent statistics tell us that it is starting to overtake credit card fraud as the preferred way for criminals to operate on the Internet.
All that needs to happen is for the criminals to get hold of enough information about you - your name, address, Social Security or identity number, your bank account or credit card details, and they can then pretend to be you and run up enormous bills in your name. They can even apply for new credit cards or take out bank loans and then purchase even more in your name, leaving you to foot the bill. It's a nightmare scenario, since often it's difficult for you to prove that you didn't make these purchases, and the financial companies who are owed the money are sometimes very unsympathetic.
The way to prevent Identity Theft is to be constantly vigilant and aware of the value of your personal details.
- Never respond to emails which request passwords or access codes to online banking sites. Even though they may look like they come from your financial institution, be aware that banks will never ask for this information online.
- Don't throw away documents which contain your personal details, such as credit card numbers, addresses etc. Criminals have been known to scavenge your trash for this kind of information. It's valuable - keep it or shred it!
- Be careful when purchasing goods online. If the Merchant doesn't give a way of contacting them offline so you can verify their validity - beware. Also remember the maxim that if something looks too good to be true, it probably isn't. Be wary of goods which are advertised at extreme bargain prices. It may just be a way of gathering information about you.
- The new social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace are happy hunting grounds for predators looking for personal information. By all means enjoy these kind of sites, but be careful what kind of information you share with others.
- Take a look at what's in your wallet or purse and see how much information is in them that a thief could use to pretend to be you. That's scary, isn't it?
Q. If the worst comes to the worst, how do I recover from severe infection?
A. Backup, Backup, Backup! The old adage is true. If you haven't backed your system up, you will regret it one day. A good Backup Program is an essential for any PC user today. Regular backups are the belt and braces of computing.
There are many reasons to backup your information on a medium which is external to your PC. Quite apart from being able to reload your system with an infection-free copy, there is always the chance that you will suffer a catastrophic system failure - think disk crash - at some time. The ability to recreate your entire system as it was before the incident is priceless. Just think how hard it would be to re-assemble all the information that's on your PC now - family photographs, personal letters and emails, postal and email addresses, banking information, income tax information, maybe accounting information if you run a business from home. If you haven't taken backups, this information would be practically impossible to recreate.
A good Backup program is an essential these days and needn't cost you an arm and a leg. Take a look at our recommendations for backup software and do yourself a favor - start backing up today!