I have virus protection why am I getting spyware?

Having an antivirus program on your computer is just a preventative measure that is put in place to avoid getting computer infected. There is no 100% guarantee that a computer even with the best anti-spyware will prevent infection.

To give a brief description of the elements of the various attacks that exist on the internet here are a few definitions:

If you use a computer, read the newspaper, or watch the news, you will know about computer viruses or other malware. These are those malicious programs that once they infect your machine will start causing havoc on your computer. What many people do not know is that there are many different types of infections that are categorized in the general category of Malware.

Malware - Malware is programming or files that are developed for the purpose of doing harm. Thus, malware includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, hijackers, and certain type of adware.

This article will focus on those malware that are considered viruses, trojans, worms, and viruses, though this information can be used to remove the other types of malware as well.

We will not go into specific details about any one particular infection, but rather provide a broad overview of how these infections can be removed. For the most part these instructions should allow you to remove a good deal of infections, but there are some that need special steps to be removed by radical methods that might involve restoring the computer to factory settings which means erasing all existing data. It is always a goo idea to have a backup of you files just in case there is the unfortunate incident of a irecovable virus/malware infection.

Before we continue it is important to understand the generic malware terms that you will be reading about.

Adware - A program that generates popups on your computer or displays advertisements. It is important to note that not all adware programs are necessarily considered malware. There are many legitimate programs that are given for free that display ads in their programs in order to generate revenue. As long as this information is provided up front then they are generally not considered malware.

Backdoor - A program that allows a remote user to execute commands and tasks on your computer without your permission. These types of programs are typically used to launch attacks on other computers, distribute copyrighted software or media, or hack other computers.

Dialler - A program that typically dials a premium rate number that has per minute charges over and above the typical call charge. These calls are with the intent of gaining access to pornographic material. This type of attack requires a dialup connection which is becoming obsolete.

Hijackers - A program that attempts to hijack certain Internet functions like redirecting your start page to the hijacker's own start page, redirecting search queries to a undesired search engine, or replace search results from popular search engines with their own information.

Spyware - A program that monitors your activity or information on your computer and sends that information to a remote computer without your knowledge.

Trojan - A program that has been designed to appear innocent but has been intentionally designed to cause some malicious activity or to provide a backdoor to your system.

Virus - A program that when run, has the ability to self-replicate by infecting other programs and files on your computer. These programs can have many effects ranging from wiping your hard drive, displaying a joke in a small box, or doing nothing at all except to replicate itself. These types of infections tend to be localized to your computer and not have the ability to spread to another computer on their own. The word virus has incorrectly become a general term that encompasses trojans, worms, and viruses.

Worm - A program that when run, has the ability to spread to other computers on its own using either mass-mailing techniques to email addresses found on your computer or by using the Internet to infect a remote computer using known security holes.

Logic bombs - A logic bomb is a piece of code that sits dormant on a target computer until it is triggered by a specific event, such as a specific date. Once the code is triggered, the logic bomb "detonates". and performs whatever actions it was programmed to do. Often, this includes erasing and currupting data on the target system.

Rootkit - A rootkit is code that is intended to take full or partial control of a system at the lowest levels. Rootkits often attempt to hide themselves from monitoring or detection, and modify low-level system files when integrating themselves into a system. Rootkits can be used for non-malicious purposes such as virtulization; however, most rootkit infections install backdoors, spyware, or other malicious code once they have control of the target system.

Bonet - A bonet is a collection of software robots run on command and control program. The command and conttrol software is controlled by a person. Most bonets are made up of many thousands of computers that have been compromised by other malicious code that has installed the bot software. Typical black-hat uses for bonets include denial of service attacks, sending spam email, and mining for personal information or passwords.