by Noah Bradley

Created on: April 11, 2008   Last Updated: April 18, 2008

By any chance are you sick and tired of your computer running at a slower pace than it should? Do you know why it's slow? Do you want to speed it up? Do you want me to get to the point already? Like most people your impatient, especially when it comes to computers. That's okay, everyone else sympathizes with you. After all computers are supposed to make our lives easier, they do, when they work.

There are plenty of reasons why a computer may slow down, your hard drive might be to full, or the system may just be outdated. The most likely reason you are having difficulties is malware. Malware is defined as any software that is designed to infiltrate or harm a computer system without the consent of the user.(why you would give your consent I don't know) These programs are malicious, hence the name malware. If you have a computer or know someone that does you have heard of this kind of software. Viruses, worms, spyware, ad-ware, all of these are classified as malware.

Viruses and worms are the most well known, but not many people know that worms are different, and in some respects more dangerous, than viruses. Theses are classified as infectious malware because of how they spread. Viruses only spread when the infected program is running. The program may run like it should, but behind the scenes it's spreading, infecting other applications on your computer which in tun spread the virus when they are in use. Think of it like child with the flu. They go to school feeling fine, with no signs of being sick. It may not have hit them yet, but the flu virus is still inside of them and one sneeze could infect the entire class. Those children are now infected, and show no signs of it. They go home and kiss there parents and now they're infected, and it just keeps spreading and spreading until it eventually wipes out the entire world.(Ok thats quite a stretch, but you get the idea.) Worms on the other hand run themselves as a separate process, so while your computer is on, your files are slowly being eaten away. They lie on the internet searching for systems that have holes in their security and infiltrate them. They then multiple themselves over and over, bogging down your computer more and more. Much like a real worm. When cut in half, two worms form. Cut them in half, and now you have four worms, and so on, and so on until, your computer is full of them.

Spyware is a type of software that is produced for the purpose of gathering information on computer users. These programs

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