the effects of bad stuff.

D

dstebbins

Member
By "bad stuff," I mean viruses, worms, spyware, trojans, and adware.

I know what half of the bad things do. I know that viruses take hostage a certain file (just like biological viruses take hostage a cell) and alter the code so that the file does unwanted things.

I know a worm is like a virus, but doesn't need to be triggered in any way.

I know that spyware got its name because it's, essentially, spying software (which spyware is short for). It records everything you do on your computer and sends it back to the programmer. This is how most spam emails come along (they learn the email addresses you frequent), and they can even learn your password for many websites.

But that's as far as my knowledge of bad stuff goes. I don't know what trojans or adware do. I can reasonably infer that adware has something to do with pop-up ads or something to that affect, but I don't know anything specific, and I haven't the foggiest idea how to describe a trojan should a little child ask me about them.

Can you help me?
 
hermeslyre said:
BTW the wikipedia is a very useful site, I use it extensively when I need to learn of new things. ;)
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Yeah, and Wikipedia is also so non-credible that universities and high schools the nation over are forbidding it to be used in bibliographies in any way.

Eh?
 
dstebbins said:
Yeah, and Wikipedia is also so non-credible that universities and high schools the nation over are forbidding it to be used in bibliographies in any way.

Eh?
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Sure, it's not usable in a paper, because the sources are often unverified, but it's a great tool for learning.

Also, a word to help you out... Bad Stuff = Malware
 
PohTayToez said:
Sure, it's not usable in a paper, because the sources are often unverified, but it's a great tool for learning.

Also, a word to help you out... Bad Stuff = Malware
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Again, if the sources are unverified, then how do I know what they're saying is true? Unless it's verified with a credible source, for all I know, a politician could have said it.
 
Most articles require valid sources. Some don't have them and it will be stated if that is the case.

Just to let you know all the people on this forum are "unverified". For all you know some us are politicians. ;)
 
How can you verify anyway? The people who verifies might be un-veryfied :P:D.

It's just a matter of trust.
 
webbenji said:
How can you verify anyway? The people who verifies might be un-veryfied :P:D.

It's just a matter of trust.
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It's a matter of trust on a massive scale.

Think about it: If a scientist writes a paper explaining that he made a breakthrough in science, and he explained in explicit detail the lab experiment that he engaged in (which he performed numerous times and got the same results every time), does that make him instantly credible? No. Other scientists have to repeat the same experiment and verify that they got the same results. Once the number grows to a considerable amount, people start to believe it.

But how do we know they aren't all lieing? Simply put, we don't, except for the fact that the chances of them all being in cahoots with each other with ulterior motives is less than your chances of winning the lottery. THAT'S where the verifiability comes into play; by the trustworthiness of multiple people at once, not one person.

Can someone PLEASE tell me what's so complicated about this?
 
Trojan - is an invasive application that disguises itself as a harmless one and often gives back door access to something else. Commonly used with mass spammers, they infect your system and open it wide up to then traffic spam through your connection. Sometimes it may be combined with other types of spyware and could collect personal information about your system and send it out somewhere on the net. Trojans also download other malicious softwares and let them in once they have created the back door, and they usually attach themselves to a process so they are not constantly running. Once a user starts that process it runs, trying to stay hidden from the user.

worms - self propagating network active programs that are used in DOS type attacks and are designed to copy themselves over the network by themselves. Where as a normal virus would attach itself to a program it infects (or data files sometimes). These also open up back doors and create zombie processes for things like mass spamming. Worms are aimed at eating up bandwidth and deal mostly with network traffic.

Virus - A malicious file that infects other files and programs. These need a host and do not act on their own like a worm would. They can then alter things or crash a system depending on how they are written

Malware - is a new terminology and basically describes any kind of malicious software (hence the name, and for bonus points, mal means "bad" in latin - I learned that from watching Firefly) which runs on your system posing as something that should be good to have when instead it is opening up back doors, downloading more malware, letting spam flow through your computer, and compromising your personal security. One particular malware app I have dealt with in the past was spyaxe.exe. SpyAxe was a program that claimed to be an anti-spyware program, when in fact it was actually malware. Users downloaded and ran it thinking it would help their system when in fact it did the exact opposite. Malware can be very sneaky as well, and sometimes even have a statement in the EULA that you agree to have your computer spied on by installing this software.

root kits - are malicious software that "root" the machine giving an unauthorized user complete root level (full access) to the system. These are common in all Oses, including Linux/Unix and can be a pain to deal with. These exploits are usually implemented by a hacker in most cases wanting to root a remote system. However, it is not exclusive to being hacked, malware and trojans could easily download and install a root kit on your system once infected.

spyware - is any kind of software that tracks what you do and where you go, and sometimes is more malicious and can even seek out personal info stored on your computer and then that data is uploaded to a remote source. I think spyware has been used in marketing a lot and the data was then sold as demographic data to advertising firms and the like that wanted to know what their customer base did. Harmless as that sounds it is still an invasion of privacy, and of course it only gets worse from there.

Everything have stated can be found (and it is better written and explained than I can do) at www.wikipedia.org.
 
He doesn't like Wikipedia.. Unverified, they could be politicians.. or worse, Dick Cheney! :P

Just having alittle bit of fun, no offense. We're just a bit to laid back to be worrying about people with an "agenda" putting thoughts in MY wikipedia.

Anyway all the precaution and suspicion in the world isn't going to save you from alittle misinformation. It's better to accept that and lighten up then to scrutinize every piece of data you come across, at least in my point of view. :)
 
hermeslyre said:
He doesn't like Wikipedia.. Unverified, they could be politicians.. or worse, Dick Cheney! :P

Just having alittle bit of fun, no offense. We're just a bit to laid back to be worrying about people with an "agenda" putting thoughts in MY wikipedia.

Anyway all the precaution and suspicion in the world isn't going to save you from alittle misinformation. It's better to accept that and lighten up then to scrutinize every piece of data you come across, at least in my point of view. :)
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I think wikipedia was sited as the second best encyclopedia reference.
 
hermeslyre said:
He doesn't like Wikipedia.. Unverified, they could be politicians.. or worse, Dick Cheney! :P

Just having alittle bit of fun, no offense. We're just a bit to laid back to be worrying about people with an "agenda" putting thoughts in MY wikipedia.

Anyway all the precaution and suspicion in the world isn't going to save you from alittle misinformation. It's better to accept that and lighten up then to scrutinize every piece of data you come across, at least in my point of view. :)
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Okay, quick question, super fast:

Where the HELL did I ever mention anything about Penis Cheney?
 
dstebbins said:
Okay, quick question, super fast:

Where the HELL did I ever mention anything about Penis Cheney?
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Haha, Well he is a politician, arguably the worst but...

Wikipedia rocks man, and it's completely "Penis" free.. Well i mean it does have articles on the penis and whatnot but.. You know what I mean.

sarcasm.gif
 
I agree wikipedia is a great source for knowledge, I have used it before many times to figure something out at work.
 
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