What is the difference between anti-virus and anti-spyware programs?

Topic by Sam: What’s the difference between an anti-virus and an anti-spyware program?

So at the moment, I only have a program which says it’s anti spyware (Webroot Spy Sweeper) and was wondering if it also would protect my computer against viruses (and then I wondered what the difference between an Anti-Virus and an Anti-Spyware is). So if SpySweeper doesn’t protect against viruses should I get an anti-virus program? And would it mess up my computer with two security programs, because I’ve heard that if you have two Anti-Viruses on the same computer it will mess up things.

Thanks for any answers.

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Best answer:

Answer by Beto N

An antivirus program will protect you from getting any viruses on your computer, and antispyware will concentrate on the spyware programs but will also detect viruses once you already have gotten them, antivirus will reflect and antispyware will remove once you already have them. you cannot have 2 antivirus programs but you can have an anitvirus and an antispyware. for example you can have norton and superantispyware but not norton and mcaffee.

Answer by Snehal

Spyware is program which can spy ur computer. It can show every task u r doing on ur pc to hatcher. General antivirus programs do not detect it. It can be done with anti-spyware only. You have to check if ur spyware is able to detect virus also. If not then u need to load antivirus n i don’t think they will mess up each other.

Answer by PCHelperdude

Webroot Spy Sweeper wont protect you against viruses, It’s not even very good with malware and spyware.

You need to install an antivirus program and a good anti-malware/anti-spyware program

A light and good anti virus program…NOT Norton or Mcafee

Avira or Avast

http://www.free-av.com/en/download/index.html

http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download

Malwarebytes to scan and clean malware and spyware that might get through

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Its ok if you have Malwarebytes free version and Webroot because Malwarebytes doesnt load into resident memory, just updates scans and cleans when you open it.

The problem with too much security happens when they load a (resident shield) processes in memory watching things. Not all programs do this.

With Webroot an Anti-Virus(links listed above) and Malwarebytes it will be fine, no slow downs

1 Anti-Virus shield program, 1 Anti-Spyware shield program and 1 Anti-Spyware without shield program

Heres an example: An antivirus without a protection shield that is safe to run alongside any installed antivirus program

Dr Web Cureit http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit/?lng=en

Answer by Shaun

There are webroot antivirus as well, maybe use webroot antivirus instead of webroot antispyware.

Generally, Antispyware itself does not protect you from viruses, there can be antispyware plus antivirus, such as Spyware doctor with antivirus, or spyware terminator, intergrated with clamwin, they will certainly protect you from viruses as well as spyware.

Most antivirus, however, will protect you from spyware.

Get Microsoft Security Essentials, it protects you against both virus and spyware, if you don’t want webroot antivirus.

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Or if you want any alternative, try these.

Avast antivirus free edition

http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download

AVG Free 9.0

http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free

Only install one antivirus software

Answer by jean ann j

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/anti-virus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/spy_sweeper

It depends on which spy sweeper you have.

Answer by ilknur K

Internet vermin is everywhere, and any computer can easily be infected with a virus, Trojan Horse, worm, spyware, rootkit blended threat, or pop-ups. The types of malicious infections we can encounter are seemingly endless — as are the types of programs available to consumers to help keep infections under control.

In this Did You Know article, we discuss two areas of concern for Internet users: viruses and spyware. We look at how to keep these types of vermin from infecting your computer and how to minimize the overall risk to your home computer system.

What Are Viruses and Anti-virus Programs?

A computer virus is a program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes. All computer viruses are man-made and they can also replicate themselves by making a copy of themselves over and over again. Even such a simple virus is dangerous, because it will quickly use all available memory and bring the system to a halt. An even more dangerous type of virus is one capable of transmitting itself across networks and bypassing security systems.

When people talk about a computer virus, they generally call different types of computer viruses, like worms or Trojan horses a “virus”. While the words (Trojan, worm and virus) are often used interchangeably, they are technically not the same. However, what they have in common is that they all are malicious programs that can cause damage to your computer. They also can be found and removed by the same security program (for the purpose of this article, we also use the word virus to describe all three types of threats).

To protect your computer system from this type of malicious code, you can install and use an antivirus program. This utility scans hard disk drives for viruses, worms and Trojan horses and removes, fixes or isolates any threats that are found. Most antivirus programs include an auto-update feature that enables the program to download profiles of new viruses so that it can check for the new viruses on your system as soon as they are discovered.

Most antivirus programs can be run on your computer system in one of two ways. The first is as an on-demand scanner. This means the antivirus program actively scans your computer system for viruses only when you prompt it to do so, or by scheduling it as a time-specific task. On-demand scanners, while used to scan hard drives can also be used to check removable storage devices before copying from those devices onto your system.

The other option is to run the antivirus program as an “on-access scanner “. Here the program runs in the background and actively scans your computer system constantly for viruses and other malicious threats, for the duration that your system is powered on, unless paused by the computer user. On-access scanners will monitor all system activity and automatically scan files that have been downloaded from the Internet or through e-mail.

What Is Spyware and Anti-spyware Programs?

Spyware is software that covertly gathers user information through the user’s Internet connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications are typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet; however, it should be noted that the majority of shareware and freeware applications do not come with spyware. Once installed, the spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits that information in the background to someone else. Spyware can also gather information about e-mail addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers.

Spyware is not a virus, as it does not replicate itself once on your system, but it is somewhat similar to a Trojan horse in that users unwittingly install the product when they choose to install something else.

Aside from the questions of ethics and privacy, spyware steals from the user by using the computer’s memory resources and also by eating bandwidth as it sends information back to the spyware’s home base via the user’s Internet connection. Because spyware is using memory and system resources, the applications running in the background can lead to system crashes or general system instability.

ecause spyware exists as independent executable programs, they have the ability to monitor keystrokes, scan files on the hard drive, snoop other applications, such as chat programs or word processors, install other spyware programs, read cookies, change the default home page on the Web browser, consistently relaying this information back to the spyware author who will either use it for advertising/marketing purposes or sell the information to another party.

To help protect against malicious spyware, users can run antispyware programs on their computer system. Antispyware programs are designed to search your hard drive for traces of known spyware and adware. Since spyware is installed like any other applicati

Answer by Andy

you need anti virus you dont need anti spyware

Answer by pixel-mom

you need anti virus as well because spysweeper is only antispyware.Antispyware protects you against spyware anti virus protects you against virus.Virus is stronger than spyware.A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself[1] and infect a computer. The term “virus” is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, adware, and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can only spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a user sent it over a network or the Internet, or carried it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB drive. Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.[2][3]

As stated above, the term “computer virus” is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware, adware, and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojans, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware, and other malicious and unwanted software, including true viruses. Viruses are sometimes confused with computer worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself automatically to other computers through networks, while a Trojan is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions. Worms and Trojans, like viruses, may harm a computer system’s data or performance. Some viruses and other malware have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but many are surreptitious and go unnoticed. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus).Spyware is a type of malware that is installed on computers and collects little bits of information at a time about users without their knowledge. The presence of spyware is typically hidden from the user, and can be difficult to detect. Typically, spyware is secretly installed on the user’s personal computer. Sometimes, however, spywares such as keyloggers are installed by the owner of a shared, corporate, or public computer on purpose in order to secretly monitor other users.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware)

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What is the difference between anti-virus and anti-spyware programs?