- Adware:
- Software, installed by stealth, that causes annoying, disruptive, and unwanted advertisements to appear in programs or as pop-ups.
- Bloatware:
- A word used especially in reference to applications and OS upgrades when the software requires abnormally high amounts of disk space and memory compared to the functions provided.
- Cookie:
- A file stored on the client machine that contains data passed from web sites, and allows these websites to communicate with this file when the same client returns.
- Demo:
- A partial product that you may use as long as you wish, but has only part of the functionality of the full product.
- Firewall:
- A firewall is a system that secures a network, shielding it from access by unauthorized users. Firewalls can be implemented in software, hardware or a combination of both. In addition to preventing unrestricted access into a network, a firewall can also restrict data from flowing out of a network. Imagine an electronic gate.
- Freeware:
- Software that can be downloaded, copied, and used without restriction. While freeware is free to use, most have no support, and there is no access to the source code to make any improvements.
- Heuristics:
- Heuristics are "rules of thumb", educated guesses, intuitive judgments or simply common sense. Most commonly applied to Security Software that guesses about possible infections.
- Malware:
- Short for malicious software. Malicious software is any form of computer program designed with malicious intent, including, but not limited to: virus, trojan, worm, and certain types of spyware.
- Open Source:
- The source code is available to all potential users, and they are free to use, modify, and redistribute the source code. See also ""What is Open Source?"
- Operating System:
- The master control program (Windows or Linux) that manages a computer\'s internal functions and provides a means of control to the computer\'s operations and file system.
- Shareware:
- A part of the software can be downloaded and used for free in hopes that you will pay for the rest of the piece of software. Compare shareware to a "free sample" at the grocery store.
- Spam:
- Unsolicited and unwanted email, often commercial in nature, sent out indiscriminantly to as many people as possible.
- Spyware:
- Software that secretly gathers information about a user while they are surfing the internet. Although it is normally used for advertising purposes, it can also collect information about you such as: email address, passwords, and even your credit card numbers.
- Third Party Cookies:
- A cookie placed onto your computer from a website that you did not visit.
Example: If you visit www.widgets.com and the domain of the cookie placed on your computer is www.widgets.com, then this is a first-party cookie. If, however, you visit www.widgets.com and the cookie placed on your computer says www.stats-for-free.com, then this is a third-party cookie. - Tracking Cookie:
- A cookie that tracks your browsing habits so websites can target their advertising towards you.
- Trial:
- The full product that will expire after a certain specified time.
- Trojan:
- A malicious program that is disguised as legitimate software. (Term is derived from the classical myth of the Trojan Horse)
- Virus:
- A computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. A virus can modify the copies, and the copies may modify themselves. A true virus cannot spread over a network unless sent over the network or internet, or by carrying it on a removable medium like CD-ROM, USB Flash Drive, or External Hard Drive.
- Worm:
- A self-replicating computer program that uses a network to send copies of itself to other computer terminals on the network and it may do so without any user intervention. Worms almost always cause harm to the network, if only by consuming bandwidth.
