Malware is by definition "Malicous Software." It is programmed for variouse purposes, some harmless, some very harmfull. It can be classified into 5 categories; Viruses, Trojens, Spyware, Rootkits, and Worms.
A computer virus is similar to an organic virus. It infects your computer by copying it's code into your files. Sometimes this overwrites information rendering it unusable, othertimes it appends it's self. Viruses spread by the desimination of infected files via email or removable media. The effects can range from a harmless pop up on a specific date, to damaging hardware.
Named after the Trojen Horse from the battle of Troy. Trojens appear to be legitimate programs but when ran will release other malware into your computer, or silently download malware from the internet. They are often used to release spyware and rootkits to victim computers.
Spyware, as the name suggests, is software designed to spy on you. This ranges from keeping track of your online activity to facilitate targeted advertisements, to stealing your passwords, bank account information, social security number, etc.
Rootkits allow an unauthorized (typically hacker type people), who have taken over your system to keep a "back door" open that will always allow them to have administrator access.
A computer worm is a program that exploits a vulnerability in the security of your operating system, or the software you run on it. After a worm infects your system, it usually acts like a trogen and downloads more malware to your computer and then uses your computer to attempt to "hack" into other peoples computers.
The procedures for removing malware depends on the class of infection and the specific type of bug. Some of the methods employed by malware programmers include; hiding backup copies in system restore files, creating monitoring services, changing the registry, and infecting system drivers. Removal sometimes can be done automaticly with antimalware tools. However, sometimes the changes need to be made by hand.
The cost of removing malware depends on how difficult the program is to remove. Some of them are easily removed with an automatic tool, others take a few hours to completely remove by hand. After we determine the level of infection and identify the malware on your system we will give you a quote based on what we think it will take us to fix. Quotes range from $20 for the easy ones to $90 for the hard ones. And even if we're wrong and the infection is much worse than we thought, you'll never pay more than our quote for the malware removal.*
With no bench fee and free diagnostic, what do you have to loose?
*Excludes any hardware cost if hardware was found bad after the initial quote.