Are You Fully Protected From MalWare?
I was on a customer system the other day, they told me that they had an anti-virus program installed. While checking their system, I found that they had an anti-spyware program, but no anti-virus.
There is a difference between the two, and both should be on your system.
An anti-spyware program checks specifically for spyware, that tries to capture your personal data. Such things as keylogger, and tracking software, are examples of this. They do not, however, check for or repair the majority of pure viruses.
Viruses are programs that infect your computer, and then try to replicate themselves to other computers. There may, or may not, be an intended destructive aspect to the virus, called a payload.
There is a large area of overlap between the two. In particular, many spyware applications will attempt to replicate to other computers.
Protective software, however, is generally different for the two. Anti-spyware software specifically targets the key loggers, and browser trackers, while anti-virus software largely tends to ignore these.
Unfortunately, the software providers have not done a very good job of educating their users about the difference. So, like the customer mentioned earlier, many think that they are protected, but are leaving themselves vulnerable, by not having a complete protection system installed.
Contact CCS Retail Systems Technical Support for Assistance.