Some bad people or companies write programs like computer viruses, worms, trojan horses and spyware. These programs are all characterised as being unwanted software that install themselves on your computer through deception. Trojan horses are simply programs that conceal their true purpose or include a hidden functionality that a user would not want. Worms are characterised by having the ability to replicate themselves and viruses are similar except that they achieve this by adding their code onto third party software. Once a virus or worm has infected a computer, it would typically infect other programs (in the case of viruses) and other computers. Viruses also slow down system performance and cause strange system behavior and in many cases do serious harm to computers, either as deliberate, malicious damage or as unintentional side effects. In order to prevent damage by viruses and worms, you need either to completely isolate your computer from dangers (impractical for many people or networks) or install antivirus software, which typically runs in the background on your computer, detecting any suspicious software and preventing it from running. Some malware that can be classified as trojans with a limited payload are not detected by most antivirus software and may require the use of other software designed to detect other classes of malware, including spyware. Generally anti-virus software may be also be used to scan all of the files on a computer occasionally for extra peace of mind. Because of the continuing increase in the number of viruses and worms being identified, all good anti-virus software includes a facility to regularly update the data that is used to identify viruses. As well as the commercial antivirus programs, which generally require an annual subscription, there are free antivirus programs available, but the best commercial programs appear to be a little more reliable at present. Several companies provide a comparison of the performance of different antivirus programs which should be useful in making a decision as to which to use.
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