This post is the first out of three articles focusing on malicious software. Here, we will explain the difference between malware and viruses and point out some of the symptoms of an infected PC.

Computer infections are not new. They have probably existed as long as there has been software; in fact the first known computer virus - the ‘Creeper virus’ - was written in the beginning of 1970’s. Such infections spread very easily and probably every computer owner has come across some form of malware at some point in their life. Many of them might have not even been aware of the infection at all.

An infected PC might not seem a serious problem to an individual person whose computer usage is limited to checking their personal e-mail. If, on the other hand, you use your computer to do online banking, shopping or anything involving private data you might want to make sure that your computer is safe. Not knowing that you have a malware in your system might cost you (and your business) not only your precious data but also: credit cards being used, banking accounts being cleared. I don’t think I have to explain in more detail what damage it cause.

Of course there are different solutions to protect personal and business PCs, but with hackers and programmers being craftier than ever it is becoming more and more difficult to defend the data stored on your computer. Therefore it is important to understand what malware is and how they work.