… Malware - Spyware - Adware

COMPUTER

VIRUS

INFORMATION

MALWARE … Malware is a collective term including the many varieties of deliberately malicious software, that is, software written for the purpose of causing inconvenience, destruction, or the breaking of security policies or provisions. Malware is generally considered to include programs such as DDoS clients (or zombies), logic bombs, RATs, trojan horses, viruses, and worms. Malware is generally not considered to include unintentional problems in software, such as bugs, or deliberately written software that is not intended to do harm, such as pranks.

SPYWARE … Spyware is a type of malware that reports on the contents, status, or operation of the computer to a remote system or user. Generically this could be almost any type of information gathering software. More specifically, it usually refers to modules or functions in software that reports to the author, publisher, or service provider of an otherwise legitimate system. Spyware ranges from functions that report on version levels to the host system, through packages that report the presence of other software from the same manufacturer, through systems that gather information on all software installed including those from competing vendors, all the way to modules that report on the user's Web surfing. Justifications proposed for spyware include the need to ensure versions are kept up to date in order to provide proper service, concerns about software piracy, concerns about use for illegal or unacceptable purposes, and the gathering of marketing information. 

ADWARE … while not necessarily malware, adware is considered to go beyond the reasonable advertising that one might expect from freeware or shareware. Typically a separate program that is installed at the same time as a shareware or similar program, adware will usually continue to generate advertising even when the user is not running the originally desired program.