Virus Prevention

Malware is similar to a virus in the way that it is always malicious in intent. Malware can take over your browser in an effort to perform redirects on your search attemtps, display unwanted pop-up ads that are sometimes very specific to things you would like due to the fact that they record and track all your surfing habits, use your phoneline to make unwanted calls costing you a lot of money, and record every keystroke on your keyboard then send the information back to the malware creator.

Depending upon the type of malware that is installed into your computer, you may or may not even know if you're infected. Often times, even uninstalling a program that was packaged with malware will not remove the malware itself. You could install the newest file sharing application and notice that you're getting several pop-up advertisements afterwards, but when you go to uninstall the application the pop-ups still remain. Malware is designed to hide itself from you and the virus scanners that you may be using. Often times, malware can only be removed manually.

In the next sections we will go over the specific types of malware currently released and what they are doing to your computer that is affecting performance and useability.