Contrary to popular belief, anti-virus software is only protecting you from half of the malicious content that you’re likely to find on the Internet. The other half comes in the form of Malware; an umbrella term for spyware, adware and several other disruptive applications.

It was only just recently that the top anti-Virus suites implemented scanning software to tackle the new problem. But despite the improvement of actually recognising the issue, it’s still important to have anti-Malware software installed if you wish to effectively wipe out the threat.

Viruses, understandably, take much of the media’s attention with their ability to spread like wildfire and cause severe disruption on a global scale. Yet Malware is much more common and can have a similarly disastrous impact on an operating system’s ability to function properly.

Even with the latest version of Internet Explorer, Malware makes it possible for other web users to hijack your browser and re-direct your every request to a third party website, usually one which sells an affiliated virus removal package.

Indeed, almost all Malware instances point to a commercial product which the user is trying to sell. They have several ways of succeeding. One of the most common is to include spyware with download packages.

An unsuspecting user might initiate a download without reading over the small print in the terms and conditions. When they install the program on their system, it will unpack several other applications. Some of these will operate in the background and the user won’t even know that they’re there. They can gather information about the user’s browsing habits, the sites that they visit and even more worryingly, bank details.

Other adware threats are less discrete and will spring up pop-ups on your desktop. You’ll even see your browser toolbar overtaken by commercial icons if you’re particularly unlucky.

One of the most popular tactics for Malware hackers is to spring up an alert box which states that the system is under attack from a deadly virus. The pop-up is dressed to look like a standard system warning, but it acts as an advertisement which will take the user to another third party website. As you can see, affiliation schemes are a popular target for the hackers.

The solution to all this, as you’ve probably gathered by now, is to protect your system with anti-Malware software. Most anti-Virus programs are extremely well designed to keep out the threat of Trojans and worms, yet they do little to fight off spyware which a user willingly installs without a second thought.

Anti-Malware products work in a similar fashion to virus protection software. They sit in the background and run a discrete check on the files that you download. If known instances of spyware or adware are detected, you’ll be confronted with an alert message and an option to either eliminate the threat or continue.

In most cases, eliminating the threat will simply mean not downloading a certain product. When software is packaged together, it becomes almost impossible for an Anti-Malware utility to sift out the good from the bad.

When you install the program, however, you should receive notification of the third party content that you might not have noticed in the zip.

By far the most popular form of Anti-Malware software is the “Search and Destroy” utility. This tool doesn’t prevent all new occurrences of malicious content, but it will scan your hard drive and sniff out the bad files. You can then opt to place the programs in quarantine and have them immobilised from operating on the system.

Inevitably, having spyware and adware running on a computer will decrease the performance. After rebooting with the files destroyed, you should notice that things run a lot smoother. It’s also a good idea to look out for recurring threats.

Some Malware programs are designed specifically to re-install themselves when a system restarts. They can be hard to remove and even with the top Anti-Malware software on the market, your best hope is to enter Safe Mode and remove the threat from there.

You’ll find that Anti-Malware software is cheaper than the better known Anti-Virus varieties. It’s now possible to get sufficient support for Malware removal through the likes of Norton and Symantec. But there are also several free utilities available on the Internet, and these can be efficient for most spyware and adware instances.

Don’t assume that just because you have virus protection, you’ll be safe from Malware. It’s a very different problem and one which the major companies are only just beginning to address.

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