This is the most common problem for PC owners. In today's environment where most PC's are connected to the internet, it is extremely difficult to keep viruses, spyware, trojans, etc. off your machine. Even PC's not connected to the internet can become infected in other ways.

At Computer Medics of Lanier, we specialize in the removal of viruses, spyware and trojans. There are many tools available to fight this battle, but more and more illegitimate programs are showing up that pretend to be a solution when they actually cause more problems. We use only the most trusted tools and methods to insure results.

Definitions
A computer virus is a self-replicating program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents. Thus, a computer virus behaves in a way similar to a biological virus, which spreads by inserting itself into living cells.

Strictly defined, spyware is computer software that gathers and reports information about a computer user without the user's knowledge or consent. More broadly, the term spyware can refer to a wide range of related malware products which fall outside the strict definition of spyware. These products perform many different functions, including the delivery of unrequested advertising pop-up ads in particular, harvesting private information, re-routing page requests to illegally claim commercial site referal fees, and installing stealth phone dialers.

Spyware as a category overlaps with adware. The more unethical forms of adware tend to coalesce with spyware. Malware uses spyware for explicitly illegal purposes. Data collecting programs installed with the user's knowledge do not, properly speaking, constitute spyware, provided the user fully understands what data they collect and with whom they share it.

Spyware can closely resemble computer viruses, but with some important differences. Many spyware programs install without the user's knowledge or consent. In both cases, system instability commonly results. A virus, however, replicates itself: it spreads copies of itself to other computers if it can. Spyware generally does not self-replicate. Whereas a virus relies on users with poor security habits in order to spread, and spreads so far as possible in an unobtrusive way (in order to avoid detection and removal), spyware usually relies on persuading unsuspecting users to download and install it by offering some kind of bait.

A Trojan horse or Trojan is a malicious program that is disguised as legitimate software. The term is derived from the classical myth of the Trojan horse.