1. What is one Thing that a virus, a worm, spyware, and malicious code have in common? What are the differences among these four threats:
They are all created to create a threat to the security of you system.
A virus – A small program designed to infect your computer and cause errors, computer crashes, and even destroy your computer hardware
A worm – Software applications designed to spread via computer networks
Spyware – Tracking software that hides itself (runs in the background) and gathers information without the computer owner's or user's knowledge or permission for the benefit of someone else.
Malicious code – Malware short for "Malicious" software is designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent.

2. How often should you update your anti-virus protection?
Must be updated regularly to stay effective against new viruses, and most anti-virus software is designed to update automatically, but you can also update your software manually.

3. Why is it a best practice to have and to carry an antivirus boot-up disc or CD?
So that there is not a chance of anti-virus program to have issues (with virus, malware, etc.). Installed on the workstation already there could be virus’s already in there.

4. What other anti-malicious software and anti-malicious code applications are included with Avira under the Real-Time Shields application? What risk and threats do these help mitigate?
Real-Time Shield (with Avira) shields the possibility of the program to check data for viruses at the time as the data is written or read, Avira AntiVir Personal have this into the Guard.
The Guard will observe the drives and check the data at the time as the data is written or read.
Avira AntiVir Personal can’t directly check the content of Websites, but the downloaded data from the sites will be checked after download from the Guard.

5. In a corporate environment, should new AV definitions be installed as soon as they are available?
The AV definitions should test thoroughly in a “test” environment extensively, prior to rolling it out to an enterprise network. The last thing you want is for something to happen because proper testing was not done on your network.

6. Is the quick scan good enough to maintain the system protected?
Not on a full time basis. Default setting for a weekly Quick scan. Never perform a full scan unless an infection was detected by MSE and a full scan is recommended, or an infection is suspected.

7. Besides the ones mentioned above, what other best practices are there for the Windows Domain that can mitigate the risks and threats caused by malicious code?
MSE’s real-time protection scan on a routine basis, Identifying vulnerabilities, Reducing attack surface, Monitoring for indicators of compromise, Developing a long-term security plan

8. If you have an up-to-date AV, do you still need a Malware detection program like Windows Defender?
Windows Defender is free, so it can’t hurt to have it as well. It specifically does Malware scans and removal, where depending on the AV you have, it may not be included.

9. What are some of the most common symptoms of malware? * Your web browser's default or start-up homepage automatically changes * You end up in a same strange site, whenever you perform a search * Your firewall and antivirus programs are frequently turned off automatically * You cannot access security related Websites or cannot update your anti-virus definitions * Your network connection's activity lights blink a lot, when you are not actively doing anything on the internet * You are unable to stop the excessive popup windows that appears from nowhere * Your computer (not just your connection speed) slows down significantly whether online or offline * Strange icons and new shortcuts lurking in your taskbar, system tray or on your desktop. * You find new programs in the add/remove programs of your control panel which you don't ever remember installing. * You notice an unusual amount of new favorites and are not sure how they got there. * Strange problems occur within windows, (performance issues, programs not working as they should, etc) * You are redirected to a strange site instead of 404 error page, when a web page isn't found. * You get frequent alerts from your firewall about an unknown program or process trying to access the internet. * You get a lot of bounced back mail and see evidence of e-mails being sent without your knowledge. * Your browsing speed becomes very slow since you installed the "ultimate search companion". * Strange and unexpected toolbars appear in your web browser and you don't know how it got there. * Your phone company charges you for '1-900' phone calls you didn't make. * When you try to open spyware eradicating programs like Spybot S&D, Adaware or windows programs like Task manager, Regedit and Msconfig, they just pop up on your screen momentarily and disappear. * The Java console appears in your task bar when you hadn't run any Java software recently.

10. What are examples of harmful spyware applications? What risk or threat do they pose to the Workstation Domain? * CoolWebSearch, a group of programs, takes advantage of Internet Explorer vulnerabilities. The package directs traffic to advertisements on Web sites including coolwebsearch.com. It displays pop-up ads, rewrites search engine results, and alters the infected computer's hosts file to direct DNS lookups to these sites. * Zango (formerly 180 Solutions) transmits detailed information to advertisers about the Web sites which users visit. It also alters HTTP requests for affiliate advertisements linked from a Web site, so that the advertisements make unearned profit for the 180 Solutions Company. It opens pop-up ads that cover over the Web sites of competing companies * Zlob Trojan or just Zlob, Downloads itself to your computer via ActiveX codec and reports information back to Control Server. Some information can be as your search history, the Websites you visited, and even Key Strokes.