Apart from viruses the biggest threat for a computer is malwares. These malwares in your hard drive can hijack your browser, show up nasty pop up ads, track what websites you visit, redirect your search attempts and generally just screw with your computer. Usually malwares are poorly programmed so the main harm they cause your computer is to slow it down and unstable in addition to all the other turmoil it causes. The basic misconception about malwares in general is they are confused with computer viruses though all malwares are not viruses. They may vary according to the damage they are made to cause to a computer. Malware in hard are usually believed to be as destructive softwares but they are more like legitimate softwares with harmful bugs.


For a malware to accomplish its goals, it might be able to do so without being shut down, uninstalled or deleted by the user. Even though many of the malwares install themselves back again even after deleting them off. Some of the various factors that make a computer vulnerable to malware are listed below:
•Unconfirmed code – code from a floppy disk, CD-ROM or USB device may be carried out without the user’s agreement.
•Defects – most systems containing errors which may be exploited by malware.
•Homogeneity – if all the computers are running on the same operating system and if one of the users breaks that operating system then all the other computers can be hacked.
•Over-privileged users – some systems allow all users to adjust their internal structures.
•Over-privileged code – most popular systems allow code performed by a user all rights of that user.

The reason why these malware in computers cause so much damage is simple. They work in conjunction with programs that are always running in the background to collect data or with Internet Explorer so that every time you open IE they could do their dirty work. That is why getting infected with a malware in your hard drive is a lot easier than getting rid of them. You can get infected by a malware in many ways. While browsing over the internet or downloading a file from a website or any peer-to-peer softwares like Kazaa, iMesh etc. the most common malwares on internet go by the names CoolWebSearch which makes you browse on the wrong pages to get your computer infected.

If you think a virus scanner is enough for you to keep your computer safe from malwares then your mistaken. Some virus scanners might find malwares and delete them but most of the high risk malwares in your computer can only be found by an anti-malware protective software. So generally it’s a good idea to have an anti-virus as well as an anti-malware scanner installed in your computer to keep your computer clean. Malware scanners could be downloaded from the internet or one can scan his/her computer for malware online, single or particular files could also be scanned if you find a files names doubtful on http://virusscan.jotti.org/ . Keep your virus/malware protection up to date, be careful of which files you download and browse safely.