Malware

[Moley]

My P.C. in work was infected by Malware.  I clicked on a site (The Shotokan Way) and immidiately my P.C. switched off and re-booted automatically. The anti virus package was disabled and a message kept continually flashing that my P.C. had "Spyware" but to click here and "Windows would fix it"  Apparently it was a scam...not "Spyware" at all but something called Malware.
This thing accessed my work P.C. even though all Gwynedd P.C.'s are protected by F. secure which updates automatically every day all day. The P.C. are also on a Network controlled by Gwynedd server and this malware even managed to get past that. It took the anoraks at Cynnal 3 hours to clear my P.C.
I now notice that they have added an extra programme that scans for Malware.

Questions...

What is Malware ? How is it different from viruses and spyware ?

How safe is my P.C. at home ? I use AVG anti virus... will this detect malware or are they different ?

What to do if we get infected ?

Anyone else come accross this one >?

Is the Shotokan way (main page not forums) clean now ? I haven't dared go back.

Thanks

[JimmyTheHoover]

Hi Gwynn - sorry to hear about you problems - especially if it was TSW that was the source - did you email Sean/Emma about it ?

Although the distinction between Viruses/Spyware/Trojans/Worms/Rootkits get more and more vague each day - they are all essentially forms of "Malware" - i.e. software that means to do you and/or your PC harm in some way.

For some more useful info. on this topic the Wkipedia entry is quite useful :-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware

Hope this helps 

Jim

EDIT - FWIW - I've visited the main TSW page and most of the menu links tonight and no sign of any "penetration" attempts