Viruses and malicious software have been a plague of the Internet since the beginning. To combat these potential computer dangers numerous companies have formed to bring you all sorts of antivirus software. One of the biggest and brightest names in the business is McAfee. In fact, when it comes to a good antivirus McAfee is one of the first names that people think of.
Whether you’re looking to protect your home or home office computer, running a small business or are part of a multinational corporation, McAfee has products that can service your needs. There most basic products cost as little as $39.99 for a one year subscription for one PC, with additional PCs added onto the same network for only $10.00 a pop.
There are many different threats which can severely damage your computer. The two major types of malware are computer viruses and computer worms. A computer virus, like a traditional virus, cannot sustain itself on its own. It must be attached to a host program in order to replicate itself and perform the nefarious operations for which it was designed. It will generally be downloaded by accident when downloading a program which seems legitimate on the surface. These types of viruses are called Trojans, because they emulate the operation of the famed Trojan Horse in Homer’s epic “The Iliad.”
A worm, on the other hand, are completely self-sustaining. They do not require any host program in order to self-replicate. They generally get onto your computer through e-mails, which is one reason that you need a good anti-virus. It will not only check downloads that you make but will also scan e-mails for you to make sure that a message is not infected by a computer worm or an e-mail virus. McAfee systems provide e-mail scanning systems.
Although these are the worst threats to your computer, they are not the only types of programs which you can find infecting your computer that you did not place there yourself. In fact the most commonly found unwanted programs these days are not viruses or worms: they are adware and spyware.
Adware is a program that is usually downloaded along with some freeware or shareware program. It runs itself on your machine and launches advertisements at you. Some will operate only when you are running the original freeware program you downloaded, some will run all the time.
Spyware is similar to adware but somewhat different. It may or may not pop up advertisements on your screen. Its primary purpose is to spy on how you are using your machine. This can include what programs you are using and more often than not what web sites you are visiting in your Internet browser. It then sends this information back to its host company.
Adware and Spyware are programs that are not typically designed by hackers and crackers but rather by companies. Adware obviously makes its money through the advertisements it puts on your computer whereas spyware will use the data that it collects in marketing research. Because it is not in the company’s best interests to severely damage your computer, it can be a major nuisance and depending on the program can hog your system’s resources and thus slow down your computing. Thankfully, however, McAfee antivirus software is also designed to remove adware and spyware as well as computer viruses and worms.
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