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Posts Tagged ‘anti-virus’

Most computer users in the United States have heard of the leading American antivirus vendors. Manufacturers such as Symantec, McAfee, Computer Associates, and Trend Micro. These companies have a market leading presence in the United States. Microsoft, too, has aspirations to become a key player in this enormous growth market.

In fact, Microsoft acquired intellectual property and technology rights from GeCad software in 2003, a company based in Bucharest, Romania. They also acquired Pelican Software, which had a behaviour based security product, as well as the Giant Company Software for spyware and Sybari Software, which managed virus, spam, and phishing filtering.

A great deal of discussion concentrated on whether Microsoft would end up in a dominant position in the antivirus market by merely bundling its newly acquired software technologies up with its Windows operating systems at no charge. This is a comparable technique that has been applied in other markets such as word processing and Internet browsers. In fact, this is exactly what did take place. Microsoft has come out with a free product called Microsoft Security Essentials.

It is too early for me to advise whether MS Security Essentials is a world-class antivirus product, but it is not free to everyone. Microsoft has been battling Windows piracy for a while now with its Windows Genuine Advantage devious download and sure enough, this new creation from Microsoft will only work on Windows systems and even then, only with operating systems that pass the Windows Genuine Advantage test. (Please click the link at the bottom the page to find out more).

There is nothing wrong with that per se, but it does mean that hardly anyone in the Third World will be able to make use of it, because a pirated operating system comes bundled with every computer that I have ever seen in Asia and probably elsewhere too. People save for years in order to afford a computer and the last thing they worry about when they plug it in is whether the operating system is genuine or not.

Of course there is a number of other antivirus manufacturers prominent in this market. There are many companies with great market presence in other countries that are starting to become more widely recognized. These vendors include GriSoft from the Czech Republic, Sophos from the United Kingdom, Panda Software from Spain, Kaspersky from Russia, SoftWin from Romania, F-Secure from Finland, Norman from Norway, Arcabit from Poland, VirusBuster from Hungary, Nod from Thailand and AhnLab from South Korea.

It is not yet apparent where the industry is heading and everyone in this market faces a swiftly changing scenario. The amount of effort required to find and deliver updates for new viruses is quite astonishing. Malware programs are becoming more and more complicated and the quantity of them is increasing.

Many companies may find themselves without the resources to equal the hard work of those truly bent on creating chaos. The antivirus companies are receiving hundreds of new examples of viruses a day! What is more, the new viruses are getting “cleverer” in that they propagate themselves quickly and they often hide themselves too. Some are even smart enough to move around in a system by renaming themselves in an effort to make it hard to remove them.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the Microsoft antivirus software. If you have an interest in such software, please go over to our website now at Computer Antivirus Software

Technorati Tags: advice, anti-virus, computers, entertainment, family, hacking, home business, internet, kids and teens, other, recreation, security, software, study, Uncategorized

Adware, spyware and anti-virus software share some similarities, one of which is that all three are major problems for computer users. Let’s differentiate between the three.

Spyware is software that does not necessarily harm your computer. What it does is build pathways whereby someone else apart from the computer owner can communicate from that computer. Normally spyware records the different kinds of web sites you visit and sends that information to web advertisers, who then later send you unsolicited emails and pop-ups.

Which is why spyware is unpopular and avoided. It is more intrusive than adware. Spyware has its own separate executable programs, which allow it to record your keystrokes, scan files on your hard disks and look at other applications that you use, including but not limited to chat programs, cookies and Web browser settings.

Spyware then sends the data that it had gathered to the spyware author. The author will then use this data for advertising and marketing purposes. They also sell the information to advertisers and other parties.

Adware, on the other hand, is a more legitimate type of software.. It is similar to spyware but adware is advertising spyware which is bundled into free software or a free program and is installed automatically once that particular program or software is loaded into your computer system.

Some types of adware, on the other hand, download advertising content when a particular application is being run. Some adware acts like spyware in that it tracks and reports user data to the program’s authors.

The signs of spyware infection include pop-up ads that seem to be unconnected to the site you are looking at. Sometimes spyware pop-ups are advertisements about adult contents. Furthermore, if you become aware of your computer slowing down, there is a big chance that spyware and its components have found their way into your operating system. If Windows desktop takes a long time to load, it is best to scan your computer for spyware infections.

Viruses, on the other hand, are a harmful kind of software. They were designed and created for one reason alone and that is to inflict chaos on your computer. They may destroy whatever data they come in contact with, can instigate self replication and then infect as many components of the computer’s operating system or network as possible.

These days, a lot of anti-virus software also provides spyware and adware scanning and removal utilities. They then remove it as well as its components located in the system registry and other locations on your computer. It is therefore, good practice to regularly update your anti-virus and anti-spyware scanner to ensure that your computer is protected from the thousands of spyware and viruses in the Internet. Beware of free add-ons or free anything really.

Adware could be spyware in disguise and could be just waiting to be deployed for its writers to gather your data. Learn how to set up a firewall and pop-up blocker in order to minimize the risk of computer infection and guarantee the security of all your computer files.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the best virus protection software. If you have an interest in such software, please go over to our website now at Computer Antivirus Software

Technorati Tags: advice, anti-virus, computers, entertainment, family, hacking, home business, internet, kids and teens, other, recreation, security, software, study, Uncategorized