Malware
Are you running malicious software?

You think you know everything about the programs that run on your computer? Protect your computer from malicious software - know more about mal-ware.

Mal ware is a term used to describe any form of malicious software. A mal-ware can be viruses, trojan horses, malicious active content etc which are run normally without the knowledge and permission of the user. A malicious program can be thus broadly defined as any unwanted source code that runs in a workstation, causing unexpected results that could be system outages, performance problems or opening a back door for hackers. Even though a malware can be useful in one context, it may produce unexpected results at another place, where the exact working or the output of the software was misinterpreted or was misinformed.

What is malware or what are the programs that need to be considered malicious programs?

• Malware can be any program or source code that produces output that you dont need / expect.
• Malicious software can be a virus, reproducing itself to attack your computer or an entire network.
• Malicious script can be a Trojan intended to spy on you or display ads on your system at times when you least expect it.
• Malicious code can be active content coming through email messages or through webpages you visit. Malicious script can be made to run on a system just by visiting the website, or opening and email address. Some malicious scripts are so bad they can even format a hard dive or can send emails from your email address.
• Malicious software can be a remote access Trojan, which can open a backdoor to a remote who can control your computer or the network from a remote location.
• Mal-ware can be a browser hijacker or hijacker mal-ware, which installs browser helper objects in your computer, thus controlling the data sending to Internet.
• Mal-ware can be any file, with any extension. (.txt,.rtf,.htm..)

From the above definition, since it is clear that any unwanted source code is a malware, lets check how to prevent running mal-ware inside your computer.

• Consider any unwanted program a mal-ware.
• Consider any unwanted source code malicious code.
• Employ a MalwareScanner that can scan your computer for mal-ware. Even though normal anti virus software may not identify malicious codes, because of the mal-wares' use at some context (eg: a program that helps you delete files can be dangerous in some other context and can be considered malware.), use heuristic scanners.
• Malwareblockers can be used to identify mal-ware and keep it out of our computer. A Malwareblocker try to identify potentially harmful source code and alert the user before running it.
• Use secure browsers to prevent malicious script being run on your computer.
• Make sure the developers of your scanner update the mal-ware database regularly. Without regular updates, new and new Malicious software that are being released cannot be checked and your scanner won't protect you from new malicious codes and scripts.
• Make sure you search the hard disk for mal-ware regularly and remove any mal-ware found.