How they work ?

[Chrism]

I have seen a lot of threads in this forum very topical about what the forum is called, I am wondering how can a software like adaware check my system for spyware or malware.

Can you be a little more detailed about how they work ?
Isn't it meaningless to have a spyware installed on a well firewalled computer ? In what way information can be taken away from my computer by those malware or spyware ?

Thank you.

-Irish Bunney

[Budfred]

The different spyware scanners use different means to scan... The main thing is that they develop a database of known malware and check your system for signs of those programs...

And NO, a firewall does NOT make your system immune to the effects of malware... It will only block the malware from attacking without permission... Often malware is installed unknowingly by the user as part of another program or it is installed when you click on a window to close it... In both cases, the firewall does not know that you haven't agreed to install it, especially if you have already given permission for the firewall to let you into the site that does the infecting... You need a full set of tools to prevent infection and you need to be careful where you go...

Here is the prevention speech I post to people after I help clean up their computers...

This is a good time to set up protection against further
attacks. Read the article linked below about "How did I
get infected". You need an antivirus that is updated, a
good firewall (a router firewall is not enough) and a
spyware blocker like SpywareBlaster and also IE-Spyads.
All of these have good free versions available... be very
cautious about any security software that advertises in
popups or other intrusive ways, they are not only usually
useless, but also often have malware in them....

http://www.computercops.biz/postlite7736-.html