Virus and Malware Protection Essay Example for Free

Virus and Malware Protection essayWith the dawn of the 21st century, reliance on computers and computer systems to run various facets of human life has increased. Nowadays, everything from air hose reservations to newspaper publishing is either computerized or employs some version of technology in order to operate. period the basic premise of technology making it easier for people still applies, mans dep shoemakers lastence on it has also opened up a whole new set of problems not present originally the advent of computer technology.Computers are basically composed of two parts hardware and software. The physical properties of a computer, such as the monitor, keyboard, central processing unit (CPU), and so on are the hardware. The software on the different hand, is what essentially makes the computer run. Among these are operating systems (OS), anti-virus programs and graphics editing tools, among others. While hardware failures mountain do much to damage a systems infrast ructure, software failures ordure be even more destructive.Whether its ordinary information (such as word documents of a party invitation or pictures of your furthermost groups outing), or sensitive (such as credit card details, usernames and password, etc. ), a sacking of software functionality or security tramp do much to harm the user or users involved. A computer virus is a program or software that, like its biological namesake, can simulate and infect a system without the knowledge or permission of the user. Because of the technological advances today that link millions of computers unitedly over the Internet, or other networks, it has become much easier to spread computer viruses around.Malware, on the other hand, is the world(a) term for any computer program that is specifically designed to penetrate or damage a computer system without the users permission. It includes viruses, spyware, adware, worms and Trojan horses, among others. Because of the amount of damage malw are in general can cause to a system, a plethora of anti-virus systems have since been released in order to repel such intrusions. It should be noted however, that not all of them are as effective as they seem to be. NOD32 2. 7 versus McAfee VirusScan plus 2008Comparing the NOD32 anti-virus system with McAfees VirusScan Plus is relatively lightsome. Based on a multitude of separate studies and tests, NOD32 defeats McAfee in terms of virus protection hands down. Using ZDNet as a point of annexe for the two, NOD32 is one of the most effective programs today at detecting and removing computer viruses, and is also one of the blistering and lightest (in terms of program size) ever. The only disadvantage to what might have been the perfect anti-virus is its graphical user embrasure (graphical user interface), which is for average computer users, at the minimum.Users who have tried NOD32 in the past will attest to the need of user-friendliness of its interface, though the bottom lin e would be that whatever it lacks for in graphical design it makes up for with the baron of its scanning engine. McAfees VirusScan Plus offers more options than NOD32, and its GUI is much more user-friendly, though its overall potential at doing what its supposed to be doing in the first place (detecting viruses) falls short of expectations.Furthermore, reviews foretell that the product continues to offer poor technical support, lacks regular updates, and is only half as good as other anti-virus programs in performance tests. As a saving grace though, its GUI is very easy to learn even for beginners, and scans use relatively little system memory allowing one to do other things while letting the virus scan run quietly in the background. Given the choice to destine one of the two based on my needs, I would still go for NOD32 any sequence, as the only preventative factor for it is its GUI, which I can understand pretty well anyway.I have always establish the immense power of its scanning engine to be a very useful and compelling origin for me to remain with NOD32 as compared to going for other anti-virus programs which may be easy not only on the eyes but on computer viruses too. Online Scan Programs I decided to subject my computer system to one of the more well-known online scan utilities, namely Trend Micros HouseCall online virus scanner. A number of vulnerabilities were revealed, and it was only a matter of minutes before these were quickly patched and secured, thus retention my system safe and virus-spyware-adware free once more.Spyware and Adware Menaces Spyware is defined as software that secretly gathers information rough the user without his knowledge while transmitting it to a third and unauthorized party. Adware, on the other hand, is unremarkably harmless and simply integrates advertisements and promotions into software. In order to test my computers vulnerability to both, I downloaded and installed Lavasofts Ad-Aware 6 and Spybots Search a nd Destroy. The installation process for both was easy enough, though in the end I preferred the user interface of Ad-Aware as compared to SAD.Once they were both installed and updated, I wasted no time running a complete system scan on my personal computer and was rather surprised to see a good number of adware, as well as a smatter of spyware, lurking within my system. After the cleaning process, I did another scan and this time both programs negatively describe any spyware or adware left. Overall, both programs did a pretty good job and perhaps the only priming coat why I would pick Lavasofts product over Spybots is the more appealing GUI of the former over the latter.I can definitely say that this is certainly not the first time my computer has been infected with various types of malware despite my best efforts to keep them out using a confederacy of anti-virus and anti-spyware/adware programs. Nevertheless, my carelessness before has cost me my fair share of computer slowd owns and lost info, thus I can only advocate to other computer users out there to stay vigilant and secure with their data and systems by always having updated protective computer software.