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MALWARE
Frequently Asked Questions
ANTI-VIRUS
Q: What is a virus?
A: A computer virus is a form of malicious software – also referred to as malware. Malware is a word derived from the combination of the words malicious, and software.
The forms of malware that anti-virus solutions protect against include the following. All of these forms are commonly referred to simply as “viruses”.
- Viruses – a small program that attaches itself to another program or document and replicates with the potential to cause damage.
- Worms – specifically engineered to make extensive use of email to spread them rapidly.
- Trojans – programs that pretend to be something harmless but have a damaging or otherwise malicious intent.
- Zombies – programs that install themselves on PCs, and remain dormant until an external event triggers them into action. This could do damage to your PC, steal your personal information and send it to an unauthorized email account, or even open up remote control access to your PC.
Q: How do anti-virus solutions work?
A: Anti-virus solutions provide protection by detecting viruses and disabling or removing them from your system. Detecting viruses is the job of the anti-virus “engine”, which scans your systems, looking for the tell tale signatures of these malicious programs. Once detected, the software will take the appropriate action such as remove, rename, or disable.
Q: How do viruses spread?
A: Viruses today are typically spread via email, but can also be spread by sharing diskettes; network drives, or Internet downloads. Viruses cannot spread on their own and must be run (or executed) by someone to cause damage. Boot sector viruses spread when a user inadvertently boots their PC from an infected disk. Macro viruses can spread by simply opening an infected document.
Q: What damage can viruses cause?
A: The type of damage viruses can do varies dramatically. Some of them do a great deal of damage to files, or even destroy the contents of a hard drive, while others install programs intended to corrupt or steal information from your machine.
Q: Why does anti-virus software need continually updated signature files?
A: Since new viruses are released on a daily basis, it is critical that the anti-virus software you use is updated with new virus signatures to provide protection against the most current threats.
Q: How can an anti-virus program protect me from tomorrow’s viruses today?
A: Heuristic scanning engines enable anti-virus programs to detect even unknown viruses by analyzing file characteristics to prevent potential infection.
Firewall
Q: What is a firewall?
A: A firewall is an important first line of defense for computer security. A firewall is software or hardware that acts as a barrier between your PC and the Internet. It prevents unauthorized access (unauthorized programs or unauthorized Internet users) to your PC and hides your Internet-connected PC from view. All information leaving and entering your PC must pass through the firewall. It ultimately helps keep hackers away from your personal and confidential data.
Q: Why do I need a firewall?
A: In today’s world of computing, several layers of protection are needed in order to defend your confidential data from hackers. Every PC connected to the Internet is a potential target. Computers are under constant attack from cyber-vandals. Whether your connection is dial-up, DSL, or always-on, a firewall is necessary to stop intruders from getting into your PC.
Q: What kinds of threats do firewalls protect against?
A: Firewalls protect against hackers and online intruders who steal personal and confidential data that could lead to identity theft. Firewalls inspect each “packet” of data as it arrives on either side of the firewall – inbound from the Internet or outbound from your computer. The firewall determines whether or not it should be allowed to pass or if it should be blocked.
Q: If I already have anti-virus and anti-spyware software, do I need a firewall?
A: Yes. A New Orleans Computer Guy installed Firewall stops unauthorized access and hides your PC from possible hacker attacks. Firewalls protect you from things that anti-virus software and anti-spyware software are not designed to find.
Anti-virus software detects and removes viruses, while anti-spyware software detects and removes spyware, adware, and other non-viral malicious code. Accordingly, a personal firewall is the perfect complement to anti-virus and anti-spyware software, providing a key component of a multilayered security strategy.
Anti-Spyware
Q. What is Anti-Spyware?
A. A New Orleans Computer Guy installed Anti-Spyware detects and removes a wide variety of spyware to protect your PC from unauthorized access, information theft and diminished system performance.
Q. What is spyware?
A. Spyware includes a wide variety of non-viral applications that are typically loaded onto a user’s PC without their knowledge. Spyware can steal your personal information, switch your home page, re-direct your web searches, display annoying ads, slow your PC to a crawl, or even control it remotely. Spyware comes in many shapes and sizes; some are simply an annoyance, while others threaten security. Here are some common types of spyware:
- Spyware – tracks information about you, your computer, and your surfing habits
- Adware – displays unwanted advertising that can slow your computer to a crawl
- Keyloggers – can record every keystroke you make, then steal your passwords and other personal data· Browser Hijackers – can change your homepage and search results
- Remote Access Trojans (RATS) – allows attackers to remotely control your computer
Q. How do I get infected with spyware?
A. Spyware can enter your PC through everyday web browsing, unauthorized software downloads, peer-to-peer file swapping, email attachments, instant messaging and chat sessions, bundles with legitimate software, hacker website downloads, and “drive-by” installs from websites.
Q. Why do I need anti-spyware software?
A. Spyware can lead to anything from PC crashes to increased spam to identity theft. These threats are rapidly proliferating and represent a major security and privacy risk.
Q. If I already have anti-virus software, do I need anti-spyware software?
A. Your anti-virus protection is important — it detects and removes viral threats. But your PC can be infected with other dangers such as spyware. Anti-spyware software is designed to stop these threats, which have unique properties that can remain hidden on your PC and cause havoc. CA Anti-Spyware detects and removes a wide range of spyware threats, making it a powerful complement to your anti-virus defense.
Q. Why not use free anti-spyware software?
A. Free anti-spyware typically does not offer all of the functionality that is available in purchased Anti-Spyware, such as real-time protection, a pest information database, logging, support and automatic updates. Also, ‘freeware’ products typically cannot afford to invest heavily in research and development, meaning their solutions may not be as effective in detecting and removing a wide range of threats. In addition, freeware products usually do not offer the same level of customer service and technical support.
Anti-Spam
Q: What is Spam?
A: Spam is the common term for electronic ‘junk mail’ or unwanted messages sent to a person’s email account.
Q: Why is spam a problem; can’t I just delete spam from my Inbox by hitting Delete?
A: Today, a large percentage of all email is unsolicited, unwanted spam. The billions of spam messages circulating across the Internet can disrupt email delivery, degrade system performance, and reduce overall productivity. Deleting spam emails seems like the simple solution, but if you add up the time spent deleting every spam email you receive, you lose a significant amount of productivity.
Additionally, spam messages may contain offensive or fraudulent material and can even be used to spread viruses. Spammers may also be using your computer to send these unsolicited and possibly offensive email messages. Spammers are using home computers to send bulk emails by the millions. According to the FTC, as much as 30% of all spam is relayed by compromised home and home office PCs, but controlled from afar. Therefore, not only is spam a nuisance that affects PC and user productivity, but it can also be a serious threat to security and privacy.
Q: How do I get spam?
A: Spammers often use bulk email programs to send out their unsolicited messages to lists of email addresses that are often collected without the recipient’s knowledge. There are several ways spammers obtain these email addresses.
- Harvesting from Websites – Most companies list email addresses and contact information on their websites. Spammers use web-crawlers to search for these email addresses located on web pages.
- Mailing Lists – Many people sign up for mailing lists for newsletters, news alerts, coupons, special offers, and other interests. However, spammers can also sign up for these mailing lists and obtain the email addresses.
- Usenet Posting – Spammers can also use bots to cruise newsgroups on Usenet in order to collect email addresses.
- Coincidental – Your email address may be unique to your Internet Service Provider (ISP), but it may also be used by several other people using different ISPs. Spammers use the front part of email addresses and change the ISP name to create a list of several email addresses.
- Dictionary Attacks – Spammers make educated guesses on email addresses by stringing together common names and words.
Q: What is ‘Phishing’?
A: Phishing generally refers to email messages that appear to come from trusted companies, but then attempt to send people to fake websites where they are asked to give out sensitive personal information. This information can then be used by the creators of the website to commit identity fraud. Phishing emails may appear to come from banks, credit card companies, and other businesses and the websites look identical to the legitimate company’s website.
Q: Are there laws to stop spam?
A: The ‘Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing’ (CAN-SPAM) Act took effect in the United States in January, 2004. The Act places certain restrictions on what bulk mail senders can do. If spammers comply, they can send their unsolicited emails. The CAN-SPAM Act also does not apply to email sent from outside of the United States, even though other countries around the world have some measures in place.
Q: Can’t I get rid of spam emails by ‘unsubscribing’?
A: No. Any response to spam emails confirms the accuracy of your email address and may result in even more spam messages.
Q: How can I solve my spam problem?
A: A New Orleans Computer Guy installed Anti-Spam program is the easy-to-use, effective anti-spam solution that blocks unwanted spam. Anti-Spam allows you to see important messages from people you know while blocking questionable messages from people you don’t.
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