A maybe stupid question

[Jowo]

Hi I am really a newbie about virus and I wanna ask: is spy software a kind of virus in theory?

 

[johnb35]

Spy Software??? Can you explain more in detail on what you are asking?

About 5 percent of todays infections are traditional viruses, the other 95 percent is actually malware.

 

[Jowo]

I mean the software you install to spy someone or something. Is this a kind of virus?

 

[The_Other_One]

By definition, a virus is a software that can copy itself to a computer and typically inflict some form of harm. So technically no, spy software would not be considered a virus by definition.

 

[Purple]

You mean Spyware? Tech yes since it is coming off of a server, but no since it does not replicate, unless it is in email. Generally spyware is like a mini version of a virus. That is how I look at it anyways.

 

[canivari]

I mean the software you install to spy someone or something. Is this a kind of virus?

Its Illegall to spy someone..
Well Spyware is just normal software being used in the wrong way.
The definition Spyware is some software the enters in your computer from a website trough your browser and collects personnal info about you using cookies or Executables (via trojan or atached to normal programs as worms)
Its used by companies (they study your habits and redirect your browser so you buy their stuff) and by guys that want to make money from uproteted persons (for ex. stealing credit cards numbers and codes).
The best thing you can do, is buy a good Internet Security (like Kaspersky Internet Security or Panda Internet Security or Norton internet Security) that protects you from almost all invasions (like spyware,adware,malware,virus,trojan,rootkits,bots,etc.. from the internet)
hope that helps

 

[johnb35]

Its Illegall to spy someone..
Well Spyware is just normal software being used in the wrong way.
The definition Spyware is some software the enters in your computer from a website trough your browser and collects personnal info about you using cookies or Executables (via trojan or atached to normal programs as worms)
Its used by companies (they study your habits and redirect your browser so you buy their stuff) and by guys that want to make money from uproteted persons (for ex. stealing credit cards numbers and codes).
The best thing you can do, is buy a good Internet Security (like Kaspersky Internet Security or Panda Internet Security or Norton internet Security) that protects you from almost all invasions (like spyware,adware,malware,virus,trojan,rootkits,bots,etc.. from the internet)
hope that helps

The infections that are out today have no problems getting past those internet security programs. You just have to watch where you surf anymore. If those programs caught everything then we wouldn't have to deal with people coming here saying they are infected when they use these programs. However we deal with this almost on a daily basis as well as all the other malware forums.

 

[canivari]

The infections that are out today have no problems getting past those internet security programs. You just have to watch where you surf anymore. If those programs caught everything then we wouldn't have to deal with people coming here saying they are infected when they use these programs. However we deal with this almost on a daily basis as well as all the other malware forums.

Yes johnb35,but almost all the problems that we see here dailly are because people usually use freeware anti-virus (only) and use Internet Explorer and almost all the problems start there..
If using a good Internet Security (not only anti-virus) like a kaspersky IS and using a good browser like a firefox you get a very minimum chances to get infected isnt it?
Everyday i surf a lot in internet with XP and WIN7 (with no antivirus!!,not even a firewall..) and just using a firefox as default browser for everything and not even a pop up for the last 3years in XP and a few months in 7...
IE is the biggest target of browsers for virus and people still use it.

 

[johnb35]

I use IE8 and only use AVG 9.0 free version. I have no problems whatsoever. Every now and then AVG will catch something as i'm browsing online and stop it. Users just need to be educated on how to safely browse the internet.

 

[canivari]

i use ie8 and only use avg 9.0 free version. I have no problems whatsoever. Every now and then avg will catch something as i'm browsing online and stop it. Users just need to be educated on how to safely browse the internet.

+1