lazserus
Mar 8th, 2012, 12:15 AM
It's no longer just a virus. Yesteryear said it was spyware or adware, and now we're hearing about malware. The truth of it all is that it's all malware. Anything that maliciously alters your software or operating system is malware. That includes viruses and spyware and adware. Malware is the blanket term for "fuck my system." In reality malware's definition and execution differs from adware and spyware, even a virus. You can download for free or purchase a program that scans and removes spyware specifically, but it will ignore malware. Hell, a virus scanner can ignore malware. Although the term malware universally means any software that maliciously attacks a system, there are some particular behaviors most scanning programs overlook, such as rootkit activity.
A rootkit is malware buried in admin folders, such as the Windows system32 folder, and designed to perform simple but devastating executions as if an administrator. We didn't call them rootkits back in the 90's, nor did we ever use the term malware, because things were simpler back then (code and computer-wise), but I remember viruses such as Chernobyl that was time-delayed and designed to delete system files on its own, even running low-level format programs. Basically, you'd try and turn on your computer and it would in kind erase the Windows system files and start running a reformat command from DOS. Imagine turning on your machine only for it to trip out and shut off, then when rebooting you'd get a message "operating system not found . . . |" These days that doesn't happen so much, and if it does it's easily corrected.
Microsoft has made significant changes to its operating system structure, and how the directories in which system files are stored function while interfaced with the user (you and me), but not so much that rookits can't be installed and jack your shit up. Antiviruses today are aware of rootkits and struggle to keep their algorithms just behind them, for the most part meaning they can't detect nor prevent 98% of them.
However, Malwarebytes (http://www.malwarebytes.org/) is specifically designed to detect various forms of malware, especially rootkits! When I started using it, it was 100% free, with auto-detection and cleaning, the works. But like Avast, the developers realized they were laying golden eggs and started charging. But the good news is, like Avast, the price you pay for the Pro version is minimal and the differences aren't so vast. For all intents and purposes, Malwarebytes is the same using the free version, only now you have to pay for real-time protection. Basically, you pay for the Pro version for the software to automatically detect malware and rootkits isntead of running your own scans. If you don't believe me, check out the what's what (http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free) on their page.
With the free version, as long as you scan once a week, you're good. The free version removes the same as the paid. It's just that the Pro version auto-runs scans and notifies you of issues so that you don't have to run scans. It's a convenience thing.
A rootkit is malware buried in admin folders, such as the Windows system32 folder, and designed to perform simple but devastating executions as if an administrator. We didn't call them rootkits back in the 90's, nor did we ever use the term malware, because things were simpler back then (code and computer-wise), but I remember viruses such as Chernobyl that was time-delayed and designed to delete system files on its own, even running low-level format programs. Basically, you'd try and turn on your computer and it would in kind erase the Windows system files and start running a reformat command from DOS. Imagine turning on your machine only for it to trip out and shut off, then when rebooting you'd get a message "operating system not found . . . |" These days that doesn't happen so much, and if it does it's easily corrected.
Microsoft has made significant changes to its operating system structure, and how the directories in which system files are stored function while interfaced with the user (you and me), but not so much that rookits can't be installed and jack your shit up. Antiviruses today are aware of rootkits and struggle to keep their algorithms just behind them, for the most part meaning they can't detect nor prevent 98% of them.
However, Malwarebytes (http://www.malwarebytes.org/) is specifically designed to detect various forms of malware, especially rootkits! When I started using it, it was 100% free, with auto-detection and cleaning, the works. But like Avast, the developers realized they were laying golden eggs and started charging. But the good news is, like Avast, the price you pay for the Pro version is minimal and the differences aren't so vast. For all intents and purposes, Malwarebytes is the same using the free version, only now you have to pay for real-time protection. Basically, you pay for the Pro version for the software to automatically detect malware and rootkits isntead of running your own scans. If you don't believe me, check out the what's what (http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free) on their page.
With the free version, as long as you scan once a week, you're good. The free version removes the same as the paid. It's just that the Pro version auto-runs scans and notifies you of issues so that you don't have to run scans. It's a convenience thing.