Spyware, Adware, and Antivirus

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Spyware, Adware, and Antivirus
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What is a Virus?

• A virus is software that attacks your computer.
• Some viruses can steal information from your
  computer.
• 1. Passwords, usernames, frequently used
  programs, and other information.
• Most viruses will attempt to damage files on your
  computer.
• Through damaging files a virus can cause you to
  lose valuable data.
• Also a virus can damage files necessary to your
  computers operation thereby making your computer
  act improperly or perhaps not at all.
• A small number of Viruses can even cause damage
  to your computers hardware.

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Who creates these Viruses?

• Viruses are often complicated programs, requiring
  a high level of computer programming skill to
  design. These programs dont occur by accident.
• Very often these Viruses are made by College
  students.
• The next group of likely candidates are
  disgruntled programmers.
• And lastly, some viruses come from oversees
  countries.

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Virus Prevention Procedures

• The first and most obvious solution is known as
  an Antivirus software, here at Bergen Community
  College we use Symantec Antivirus Corporate
  Edition.
• At BCC the virus definitions are updated
  automatically and regularly, so you dont need to
  be concerned about how often your antivirus is
  updated.
• Our Antivirus software actively tries to keep
  your system free of viruses through something
  call File System Realtime Protection. This
  feature constantly monitors files that are
  accessed or modified on your system.
• Your e-mails are actively checked by the server
  before you receive them. The server will stop any
  known viruses before the e-mail is sent to your
  computer.

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Virus Prevention Procedures (Continued)

• 4. We do not stop any e-mails, however, we do
  not forward any infected Files.
• You will receive an e-mail, but the portion of
  the e-mail that was detected as having a virus
  will be quarantined.
• People often get nervous when they receive this
  message, however, it is a good sign because it is
  a sign that our system is working properly.
• However, once you receive this e-mail if it does
  not contain any useful information then we do
  suggest that you delete them.
• 5. You can also run a scan of your computer to
  make sure that you are clean of viruses.
• You only need to do this if you suspect that you
  have a virus.
• If you want to be very thorough and make sure
  that your computer is clean even absent symptoms,
  I would suggest that scanning once a month is
  sufficient.
• In order to scan your computer do the following
• As I said earlier the virus definitions are
  updated automatically, but to see how your
  definitions are do the following.

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Adware

• Hidden advertisements which are usually
  associated with internet popups.
• They can sometimes change your homepage and
  search engines.
• Two examples of Adware would be www.weather.com
  and gator.

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Spyware

• Spyware tracks what websites you go to while you
  are on the internet.
• Spyware can open access to your PC to outside
  hackers.
• Spyware can steal passwords and user information
  when you log into internet sites and secured
  pages.

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Preventing and Removing Spyware and Adware

• The most important thing to do is to never agree
  to install anything from the internet on your
  computer.
• Some Spyware and Adware is in the form of
  cookies, so deleting the cookies and offline
  files is a good way to clear up the ones that
  come in this form.
• Often Spyware will appear as a program on your
  computers add/remove programs option in the
  control panel. From there you can remove some
  known forms of Adware and Spyware.
• There are some programs available that search
  your computer for known forms of spyware/adware
  and remove them, however, there is a danger
  because often these programs are themselves
  adware and spyware.