What is Malware?

Malware, short for "Malicious Software" is designed to infiltrate the user's computer without getting the owner's informed consent. Malware includes a variety of intrusive, hostile or annoying software or program code. The common term "computer virus" is used as a phrase to include all types of malware, also including actual viruses. Malware is different from defective software which has an actual legitimate purpose but just contains bugs.

Software is considered malware because of the malicious intent of the creator, not just particular features. Malware, sometimes known as a computer contaminant, can contain worms, spyware, trojan horses, computer viruses, rootkits, crimeware, dishonest adware and other unwanted malicious software.

Understand what malware is to give you insight on how it can be dangerous to your computer. If you download a file and your computer suspects it to be malware, the best choice is always to refuse the file. Understand what malware is and compare to other downloadable software such as adware, freeware, shareware and spyware.

Tags: malware malicious software