Articles about different kinds of malicious programs

Top 10 ways you can destroy your PC while fighting with viruses »

Viruses
Trojans
Spyware
Adware
Trackware
Dialers
Keyloggers

Viruses

Virus is a harmful program that can damage your computer, your programs and important documents. Viruses are usually written by unprincipled programmers that want to test their professionalism or prove the world that they are cool or even by security specialists. Such viruses are intended to make concrete damage for certain person or corporation, inflict a loss and steal confidential information. However, very often such viruses go out of control and spread over large amount of computers.

You can get infected by virus in a lot of ways. For example, you can simply run unknown program or serf in the Internet and suddenly find out that you computer start behaving rather strange. You can found for example, that there is a critical error when you try to run some program which was working well yesterday. Our you computer suddenly come alive and performs some unusual actions. Such viruses are commonly not very dangerous because you can quickly find them with popular anti virus programs or with True Sword. But there is another category of viruses which don't reveal itself with some special actions. But at some moment this virus can be activated either by timer or by remote command. Consequences may be very sorrowful: physical damage of expensive computer parts and complete loss of important information.

True Sword can find and destroy more than 4000 most dangerous viruses. Stronghold Antivirus can eliminate even unknown viruses using unique heuristic algorithm.

Trojans

Here is a definition of word "Trojan" from Webopedia:
«A destructive program that masquerades as a benign application. Unlike viruses, Trojan horses do not replicate themselves but they can be just as destructive. One of the most insidious types of Trojan horse is a program that claims to rid your computer of viruses but instead introduces viruses onto your computer. The term comes from a story in Homer's Iliad, in which the Greeks give a giant wooden horse to their foes, the Trojans, ostensibly as a peace offering. But after the Trojans drag the horse inside their city walls, Greek soldiers sneak out of the horse's hollow belly and open the city gates, allowing their compatriots to pour in and capture Troy.»

Our products - True Sword and Stronghold Antivirus - destroys a lot of widespread trojans. He eliminates them in the same way as viruses.

Spyware

Here is a definition of word "Spyware" from Webopedia:
«Any software that covertly gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications are typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet; however, it should be noted that the majority of shareware and freeware applications do not come with spyware. Once installed, the spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits that information in the background to someone else. Spyware can also gather information about e-mail addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers. Spyware is similar to a Trojan horse in that users unwittingly install the product when they install something else. A common way to become a victim of spyware is to download certain peer-to-peer file swapping products that are available today.

Aside from the questions of ethics and privacy, spyware steals from the user by using the computer's memory resources and also by eating bandwidth as it sends information back to the spyware's home base via the user's Internet connection. Because spyware is using memory and system resources, the applications running in the background can lead to system crashes or general system instability.
Because spyware exists as independent executable programs, they have the ability to monitor keystrokes, scan files on the hard drive, snoop other applications, such as chat programs or word processors, install other spyware programs, read cookies, change the default home page on the Web browser, consistently relaying this information back to the spyware author who will either use it for advertising/marketing purposes or sell the information to another party.

Licensing agreements that accompany software downloads sometimes warn the user that a spyware program will be installed along with the requested software, but the licensing agreements may not always be read completely because the notice of a spyware installation is often couched in obtuse, hard-to-read legal disclaimers.»

True Sword has a large database of known spywares and can destroy them and save your privacy. Stronghold Antivirus can eliminate even unknown spyware using unique heuristic algorithm.

Adware

Here is a definition of word "Adware" from Webopedia:
«1) A form of spyware that collects information about the user in order to display advertisements in the Web browser based on the information it collects from the user's browsing patterns.
2) Software that is given to the user with advertisements already embedded in the application.»

True Sword and Stronghold Antivirus treats adware as an special kind of spyware and destroys it in the same way.

Trackware

Trackware is a kind of spyware that collects information about every action you perform on your computer. Suspicious chiefs use trackware to control their employees and find out what where they doing on their computers. Jealous wives use trackware to spy upon their husbands and so on. Trackware harms your privacy in particularly rude way.

Stronghold Antivirus and True Sword are designed to guard you privacy, so it deletes a lot of widespread trackware.

Dialers

Dialer (in negative meaning) is a software that uses your modem to phone expensive paid numbers, that in most case are provided by adult and porn services (also known as XXX) without your knowledge. Usually users receive such dialers while surfing in Internet.

Stronghold Antivirus and True Sword founds and deletes more than 100 different kinds of malicious dialers.

Keyloggers

Keyloggers is a kind of trackware that writes all keys that you press on your keyboard to a special file and sends them to remote hacker. Keyloggers are particularly used to steal usernames, passwords, email addresses, credit card numbers, etc. True Sword deletes large amount of keyloggers. For better defense from keyloggers use Stronghold Antivirus that blocks ALL keyloggers, both known and unknown.