Malware - Spyware/Adware/Rootkits

Malware Description
What is Malware, Malware - short for MALicious softWARE - is a term used to broadly classify a form of software which is installed in a computer system mostly without the owners permission with malicious intentions. It includes Spyware, Adware, Tracking Cookies, and Rootkits. It can also be termed "Trackware", because they track, store and analyze your browsing patterns thereby compromising your privacy on the World Wide Web. They are probably less malicious, but unwanted at the same time. It includes Spyware, Web bugs, tracking cookies, and "forced" adware.

In the past few years the prevalence of malware has grown tremendously. I strongly recommend having an Anti-Spyware program on your computer, in fact, in today's computing environment; I think having a good anti-spyware program is even more important than having an anti-virus program. I'm not minimizing the need on antivirus products by any means (see my post on Viruses); I am stressing the importance of an anti-spyware program. I've seen many computers rendered inoperable or severely crippled by malware.

Here are some definitions of different types of malware:
Spyware
Spyware is defined loosely as any program that secretly gathers information about you and or your computer use through your Internet connection. Typically, a Spyware program gathers information about you by monitoring your computing activities and then transmits it across the Internet to a remote computer for distribution to other parties for advertising purposes. These programs can also download files, run other programs in the background, and change your system settings.
In addition to violating your privacy and potentially damaging your system, Spyware often slows your computer down by stealing processing time from the CPU.
Another potential problem is that many are poorly written, may contain programming bugs and errors and can cause problems with the normal operation of your computer. One of the causes of your web browser hanging and crashing frequently with those "General Protection Faults" may be due to one of those badly written Spyware programs interfering with its normal operation.

Adware
Adware is usually a freeware displaying advertising banners within the program interface. The developer creates revenue by selling advertising space in the software product, instead of you having to pay for it. Occasionally, some Adware will also act as spyware which includes information gathering code to send non-sensitive information back to third parties. Some people think that Adware is the same as spyware, but Adware isn't necessarily spyware. While legitimate adware companies will disclose the nature of data that is collected and transmitted in their privacy statement, there is almost no way for the user to actually control what data is being sent. In addition to privacy concerns, frequent downloading of advertisement banners and other ads while the user is browsing can slow down the system immensely and for users paying for dialup services by time used, ad-loading and hidden communications with servers can be very costly.

Browser Hijackers
Browser Hijacking is caused by malicious code which can alter your browser settings without your knowledge. Browser Hijackers are extremely common.
Among other things a Browser Hijacker can altering the Homepage/Search Page of your browser, changing various options in your Internet settings, and blocking access to certain functions (parts or all of the internet options screen, registry editor etc)

Rootkit
A root kit is a set of tools used by an intruder after cracking a computer system. These tools can help the attacker maintain his or her access to the system and use it for malicious purposes. An attacker enters the victim’s computer through a security loop hole, like a weak password or a missing patch and then installs his favorite collection of tools which will provide him backdoor(s) to remotely access the cracked system and also mask the fact that the system is compromised.

Tracking cookies
Any cookie that is shared among two or more unrelated sites for the purpose of tracking a user's browsing and/or gathering and/or sharing information which many users regard as "private". Definitions of "private" may differ. Some consider any code "private" if it uniquely identifies a user, even if it is not their name or email address. A typical tracking cookie might look like this: "1www.somedomainname.com/ 0 2719785088 29508922 2980377808 29496852 * " The encoded info in this cookie includes a unique UserID assigned by a web server; the cookie can be used to track a user as they visit other sites that accept this cookie.
These are the more common varieties of malware prevalent in the web at present today.

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