What is the difference between a computer virus and spyware?

So, your computer is freezing up, you’ve got pop ups coming up at random times, and your virus scanner says “You have been infected. Click here to scan your computer”. The bad thing is that program that wants you to scan is not your anti-virus software. You click “yes” and now your computer is infected. Does this sound familiar? There are many people who have clicked yes and regret it. There are even some that go as far as to enter their credit card information when asked to purchase the bogus software. I don’t want you to fall into that trap so let us learn a little about viruses and spyware.

Viruses and spyware are not the same thing. Viruses are usually contracted by opening attachments in emails and from floppy disks or thumb drives that are used to transfer files between computers. Their main purpose is to spread through a network and damage files. Never open an email from someone you do not know that has an attachment. Chances are the attachment is a virus. There are many scams that will make an email look like it came from a legitimate company like UPS, Fed Ex, or your bank. Check the address that the email was sent to, it is probably not yours. If you do get infected with a virus there is always a chance that it cannot be cleaned and your computer will have to be formatted and the operating system, programs, and data will have to be reloaded. (Side note here; see my previous blog about data backup.) Either way, you could be in for a lot of downtime and money to get things corrected.

Spyware is contracted almost entirely from the Internet. Some web pages have malicious code already programmed into them. Others will wait for you to click on a link and bam, you’ve got spyware. There is lots of “free” software out on the Internet as well. Some of it installs spyware on your computer without you knowing it. Spyware is made to steal your information and send it to third parties. It can freeze your computer, cause pop ups, block your antivirus software from updating, disable programs, cause excess network traffic, and recreate itself when you restart your computer if it is not properly cleaned. When browsing the Internet, be aware of the sites you visit and the links you click. Sometimes what you think is legitimate is not. It has happened to almost everyone. If you get a suspicious pop up, cancel it. No matter what it says, cancel it. If you feel like something may have been installed on your computer, go ahead and scan with your antivirus software.

Always make sure that you have some kind of antivirus software installed on your computer and that it is up to date. If you feel you need to buy it to be properly protected, I recommend Trend Micro or Vipre. You will get better performance from your computer with these as opposed to some other brands. If you are like me, you can use free antivirus software. I recommend AVG or Avast free home editions. They do not have all the bells and whistles of the store bought software but they do a very good job of keeping you protected and do not take up a lot of computer resources.

Finally, I’d like to say that there is no one product that will keep you 100% safe from viruses and spyware. Antivirus software is great for viruses but will not remove all spyware. I recommend Malwarebytes and Spybot to remove spyware. Both of them can be downloaded for free. The bad thing is there is not one antispyware program that will remove all spyware. Most of the time you have to run more than one program to remove all the infected files and registry entries. If you are not savvy with computers, I highly recommend getting a professional to do this for you. If anyone has any questions, needs some advice, or would like some help, please give me a call or send me an email.