Virus vs. Trojan

What is the difference between a virus and a trojan
horse? I use AVG and Adware. I seldom have problems with
viruses but I continually get pop ups advising me of
trojans and to run AVG for Windows to remove. However,
the pop ups continue even after running AVG. The latest
one is called trojan horse downloader. VB.3.AF. Are these
trojans harmful? Should I worry about them?

Dave
Tue Jun 29 11:58:49 CDT 2004

well, it used to be that viruses arrived and replicated without operator
action and trojans were a program that did something other than what it was
advertised as. however it seems that these terms have blurred a bit and
there are things called viruses that the user has to run first, and trojans
that show up with no action. but this is a philosophical point....

yes, you must worry about them. trojans can do as much damage as viruses.
the questions are:
1. do you have a firewall?? some trojans/viruses exploit weaknesses in
windows that can generally be blocked with a freeware firewall.
2. if these popups are from avg then you should thank them for catching them
and follow the proceedure to remove the trojans... but you should try to
find out where the trojans are coming from.


"Connie" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:22bf301c45dec$453ff160$a301280a@phx.gbl...
> What is the difference between a virus and a trojan
> horse? I use AVG and Adware. I seldom have problems with
> viruses but I continually get pop ups advising me of
> trojans and to run AVG for Windows to remove. However,
> the pop ups continue even after running AVG. The latest
> one is called trojan horse downloader. VB.3.AF. Are these
> trojans harmful? Should I worry about them?

Connie
Tue Jun 29 16:56:00 CDT 2004

Yes, I do have a free firewall (Kerio). What confuses me
is the pop ups advise me to run AVG which I do but AVG
doesn't say it's found anything and the pop ups continue?
Thanks for the response though....

>-----Original Message-----
>well, it used to be that viruses arrived and replicated
without operator
>action and trojans were a program that did something
other than what it was
>advertised as. however it seems that these terms have
blurred a bit and
>there are things called viruses that the user has to run
first, and trojans
>that show up with no action. but this is a
philosophical point....
>
>yes, you must worry about them. trojans can do as much
damage as viruses.
>the questions are:
>1. do you have a firewall?? some trojans/viruses
exploit weaknesses in
>windows that can generally be blocked with a freeware
firewall.
>2. if these popups are from avg then you should thank
them for catching them
>and follow the proceedure to remove the trojans... but
you should try to
>find out where the trojans are coming from.
>
>
>"Connie" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message
>news:22bf301c45dec$453ff160$a301280a@phx.gbl...
>> What is the difference between a virus and a trojan
>> horse? I use AVG and Adware. I seldom have problems
with
>> viruses but I continually get pop ups advising me of
>> trojans and to run AVG for Windows to remove. However,
>> the pop ups continue even after running AVG. The
latest
>> one is called trojan horse downloader. VB.3.AF. Are
these
>> trojans harmful? Should I worry about them?
>
>
>.
>

anonymous
Tue Jun 29 17:21:41 CDT 2004

Connie, the article "What is the difference between
viruses, worms, and Trojans?" can be found at here:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/19990412
09131106

>-----Original Message-----
>Yes, I do have a free firewall (Kerio). What confuses me
>is the pop ups advise me to run AVG which I do but AVG
>doesn't say it's found anything and the pop ups continue?
>Thanks for the response though....
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>well, it used to be that viruses arrived and replicated
>without operator
>>action and trojans were a program that did something
>other than what it was
>>advertised as. however it seems that these terms have
>blurred a bit and
>>there are things called viruses that the user has to run
>first, and trojans
>>that show up with no action. but this is a
>philosophical point....
>>
>>yes, you must worry about them. trojans can do as much
>damage as viruses.
>>the questions are:
>>1. do you have a firewall?? some trojans/viruses
>exploit weaknesses in
>>windows that can generally be blocked with a freeware
>firewall.
>>2. if these popups are from avg then you should thank
>them for catching them
>>and follow the proceedure to remove the trojans... but
>you should try to
>>find out where the trojans are coming from.
>>
>>
>>"Connie" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>message
>>news:22bf301c45dec$453ff160$a301280a@phx.gbl...
>>> What is the difference between a virus and a trojan
>>> horse? I use AVG and Adware. I seldom have problems
>with
>>> viruses but I continually get pop ups advising me of
>>> trojans and to run AVG for Windows to remove. However,
>>> the pop ups continue even after running AVG. The
>latest
>>> one is called trojan horse downloader. VB.3.AF. Are
>these
>>> trojans harmful? Should I worry about them?
>>
>>
>>.
>>
>.
>

AndyMac
Wed Jun 30 03:24:41 CDT 2004

Rule of thumb...

Virus - Malware that spreads *with* user interaction (ie. opening an email
attachment)
Worm - Malware that spreads *without* user interaction (ie. msblast)
Trojan - Malware that does something other than advertised

Where these definitions become blurred is when more than one type is used in
an incident. For example, a worm could spread from PC to PC and leave a
Trojan behind.

Andy.



"Connie" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:22bf301c45dec$453ff160$a301280a@phx.gbl...
> What is the difference between a virus and a trojan
> horse? I use AVG and Adware. I seldom have problems with
> viruses but I continually get pop ups advising me of
> trojans and to run AVG for Windows to remove. However,
> the pop ups continue even after running AVG. The latest
> one is called trojan horse downloader. VB.3.AF. Are these
> trojans harmful? Should I worry about them?