Difference Between Malware and Virus
In computer technology parlance, Malware is an abbreviated word for Malicious Software that is essentially, software developed by Cyber Crime people to run on any users’ system or Personal Computer or any related device. The Cyber Criminals hack the protective software and collect internal and classified information or even cause damage or harm the application or the entire system.
The Malware software is inclusive of Worms, Trojan Horses, Spyware, Adware, Scareware, Crimeware and Viruses. The Malware is perceived as a potential threat due to its perceptive intention of the destroying the data of the computer owners.
The Virus too is software which can easily be construed to be a subset of the Malware. While there are various kinds of virus programs in existence, yet usually virus programs are appended or positioned to the most commonly used programs in order that the virus programs would be activated at a time when the programs are started to operate. These commonly used programs may be applications that are installed on the computer or appended to operating system files.
There are various channels through which the virus spreads. Some of the most well known conduits through which the virus spreads are USB storage devices, external hard disk drives, CDs, DVDs, floppy disks and more importantly through email attachments.
Viruses can spread much smoothly to other computers by infecting a file on a network system or commonly used files positioned in a storage network besides the media mentioned above.
Usually, viruses are not self-propagating where as a worm is also a Malware which is self-propagating.
In summation, Malware is a software harming or hacking information on a system or Personal Computer. A virus is deemed to be a subset of Malware. While Malware is self-propagating, viruses do not inhibit this characteristic. Viruses can be avoided by installing anti-virus software and update it as well as scanning the computer on a daily basis. At the start of the applications, viruses placed or attached to daily applications, virus gets activated. There are various conduits through which virus may be contracted besides email attachments. Besides the computer even the storage devices require to be scanned for virus. One should avoid clicking unwanted links of downloaded software especially from the internet.