Thus endeth the Q&A portion of this evening??™s programming. Stay tuned
for the feature presentation....
Crashes and Error Messages
Once you start peeking under Windows??™ hood, you??™ll notice some of the
tools that have been included to help the system run smoothly. Some of
these tools actually work, but it??™s important to know which ones to use and
which ones are simply gimmicks.
Crashes and Error Messages | 277
Troubleshooting
Viruses, Malware, and Spyware
Malware, or malicious software, is a class of software designed specifically to
wreak havoc on a computer??”your computer. Malware includes such nasty
entities as viruses, Trojan horses, worms, and spyware.
If you??™re experiencing frequent crashing, nonsensical error messages, pop-up
advertisements (other than when surfing the Web), or slower-than-normal
performance, the culprit may be one of the following types of malware (as
opposed to a feature authored by Microsoft):
Viruses
A virus is a program or piece of code that ???infects??? other software by
embedding a copy of itself in one or more executable files. When the
software runs, so does the embedded virus, thus propagating the ???infection.???
Viruses can replicate themselves, and some (known as polymorphic
viruses) can even change their virus signatures each time to avoid
detection by antivirus software.
Unlike worms, defined next, viruses can??™t infect other computers without
assistance from people (a.k.
Pages:
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394