What is the difference between viruses and spyware?
By Dave Piscitello The differences are indeed subtle. Both are malicious software (malware): uninvited, intrusive, and potentially destructive. Both have the capacity to capture and destroy information, ruin performance, and disrupt business. Viruses and spyware programs are delivered via web visits and downloads, as well as email attachments. Both can attack systems through many vectors. Perhaps they both fall into the category of blended threats? But what the heck is a blended threat? While a Virus Seeks to Spread One way to distinguish a virus from spyware is by its behavior. A virus seeks to infect a computer; to replicate; and ultimately, to infect as many computers as possible, as quickly as possible. When you accidentally install a virus onto your computer, the malicious code that is the virus tries to find ways to use your computer to infect other computers. For example, an email-delivered virus (a worm) may search your computer’s file system for your Outlook address book, and
