Anti-virus and Trojan Horse Guide

What is the difference between Malware and a virus?

Malware, or malicious software, has become a catch-all term for several different types of infections. Some install themselves and create a simulated infection, corruption, or hardware failure, therefore tricking you into purchasing their product to resolve the issue. This type is known as hostage-ware, ransom-ware, or scare-ware. There are malware infections that redirect your browser to sites that the creator has chosen. Alternatively, they redirect to a website that they are compensated for, based on the number of hits the site receives. Sometimes these infections can hide your entire root drive and all your subdirectories. Sometimes they capture your personal information and communicate back to the creator of the infection.

A virus, which has become a subset of malware, is a program that replicates and attaches itself to services or specific applications. Many malware payloads contain a virus file, such as a Trojan or a Worm, to help root the infection. Viruses were once an exclusive type of infection, but now they have been combined into infection packages of malware. Many malware packages incorporate rootkits to embed themselves into the kernel level of the OS, making them stealthy and more difficult to remove.

Many items are often mistaken for computer infection. These can include tracking cookies, search hooks, or browser helper objects (BHOs). Although the presence of these can indicate infection, there must be an accompanying loader (EXE) file or kernel mode driver to present to confirm infection.

What are the most common symptoms of a Malware of Virus infection?

Although today’s malware can contain multiple payloads, here are some of the most common signs of infection:

Onscreen Warnings about computer infection from a source other than your anti-virus software

The browser redirects or a complete hijack of the browser

You cannot open any EXE or Microsoft Installer (MSI) files

The inability to change wallpaper or any desktop settings

All entries under Start>Programs are empty and/or the C: drive is blank

The anti-virus icon disappears from the system tray or cannot be started

Random pop-ups show on-screen either in or out of the browser

Unusual icons, erroneous start menu, or Device Manager entries appear

We have the following suggestions:

Install anti-virus software to regularly check and kill trojans;

Updating system patches;

Don't click on unknown documents;

Please use professional password management tools such as 1password;

If you encounter any account abnormality, please report it to the customer service, who will provide corresponding solutions to your problem.

The browser uses Chrome as much as possible and upgrades to the highest version;

Uninstall the plug-in or unknown third-party software;

In extreme cases, it may be necessary to format the hard disk and reinstall the operating system;

Seek support from computer security experts.