Malware is a general term that is used to describe any type of malicious software that is installed onto the computer. In reality, the term malware describes hundreds of different types of software that can be installed onto a computer. Even with all the different types of malware out there on the Internet, they can essentially be grouped into one of five different types of groups. Here is a look at the three different groups of malware that are out there on the Internet.
Hidden Files. Hidden file malware consists of software that installs itself onto the computer without the user knowing it. These can usually come in the form of Trojan viruses, which come attached to software and will secretly start up on your system without you knowing, or backdoor viruses, which provides another computer user backdoor access to your computer system. Not only does the file download itself onto the computer without the user’s knowledge but it will also mask the different activities that the viruses do so that the user has no idea what is going on with their computer.
Contagious Files. Contagious files usually come in the form of viruses. These files are on the computer and when the computer is started up the files will start to replicate themselves and spread across the system.
Profit Making. These types of malware are created by companies that use scare tactics to try and get you to download their software, which almost always costs a fee. The most common example of this type of malware is a program that installs pop-ups onto a computer. The pop-ups will tell you that the computer is infected and to download a certain program which will clean up your system. This program costs a fortune and will not clean up the system for you.