What is Mal-ware?

Mal ware or malware is a broad term given to programs that fall into categories like spyware and adware both. These mal ware programs perform functions and relay information without your permission.

Quoted from: http://spyware.pcwash.com/mal-ware.html

Well... thats all well and good but it doesn't really spell it out all that well to a novice. It just sounds scary!

Basically Mal ware is Malicious Stuff - like programs or tools which you've downloaded thinking that the Smiley Faces or other funky things you got with it were really cool so it must be a good thing to have.

Malware might not necessarily stuff your system, it might not appear to do anything at all as far as you are aware, but what they are often doing, is recording the things you enter into your computer, or the places you visit and then sending that information back to someone else who thinks it is useful to them.

Mind you... your bank log in could be pretty useful to them, so could your ID Information if someone really wanted to recreate their life and use yours instead.

How do you avoid getting stung by Malware?

That depends on how serious you are about staying clean. It's like the difference between a condom, abstinence and regular STD Screening or being picky of your partners - 2 of the options can protect you from a lot, one is like closing the gate after the horse has bolted!

Safe Browsing - Being picky, but taking risks: Avoiding dodgy sites can help, so can firewalls and sticking with the policy of not downloading any thing you're not sure of. All well and good, but often people download without realising they're on a dodgy site or that the download smells bad.

Using an alternative browser such as Mozilla* can help to reduce Malware, Spyware etc and it really isn't that different to Internet Explorer. Many security 'gurus' will tell you to ditch Internet Explorer due to it's security risks.

Spy/Malware Protection/Detection - The Internet Condom & Antibiotics: Spybot S&D, Webroot's Spy Sweeper... any anti-spyware program which has a real time protection that limits the risk of you getting crap in your system while browsing. Trouble with many of these though, is that they are only as good as your knowledge and care to configure the program properly and keep it updated

Abstinence - Just give it up: Seriously! Some people are that paranoid about Spy/Malware they don't ever go online. Really it's the only 100% safe way, but as most of us are becoming greater junkies every day - it would be like tryin to put the whole world into a convent.

So how do you get rid of Malware?

There are a heap of free Spyware Scanners around the internet. My personal favourite is Spybot Search & Destroy* however I have found it wouldn't fix the about: blank hijacker/virus package where as XoftSpy* claims to deal with that and more.

*Links for these and others are on the Recommended Security Sites page