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Antivirus. a program that scans memory and disk drives in search of viruses. Once an antivirus has detected the presence of a virus, it informs the user and immediately proceeds to disinfect the files, directories or floppy disks that were affected by the malicious code

Firewall. A firewall is a software that sits between you and the outside world. A firewall is configured on a need to know basis, ie, all incoming connections are refused unless you explicitly enable them. Firewall software is usually also small and carefully written, so that the incidence of security loopholes in the software is vastly lower than a complex computer operating system that has to do many other things as well as guard the door.
When looking for DSL, it is well to ask the type of equipment that is available for it. You should judge whether you need a firewall and whether the equipment on offer will support the security you need. Hint: if you are going to keep anything on your computers that you care about, then do not consider default security of just a computer attached to a DSL modem. The chance of getting hacked is very low, but, that is not because it is hard, it is because there are not enough bad guys around at the moment to handle the explosion of connected PCs.
Often DSL equipment choices include some kind of combined router/hub/firewall, for example the Netopia 7100C, used with Copper Mountain DSL CO equipment, has a fairly complete firewall capability.
The Cisco 675, another popular choice, does not include any firewall capability.

Spam. Spam is usually defined as unsolicited e-mail or junk e-mail. Although this is not a virus of any kind, it is somehow related to them in that most viruses use e-mail to propagate to other computers. It is a form of bulk mail to a list of e-mail addresses obtained from different sources. On some occasions it can also be related to Hoaxes, as these are messages are always spread via e-mail.

Nowadays it is not unusual to receive a large number of unsolicited e-mail messages (ads, news, comments, chain letters, etc) This phenomenon is known as spam.

Spyware. In general, spyware is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. On the Internet, spyware is programming that is put in someone's computer to secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties. Spyware can get in a computer as a software virus or as the result of installing a new program. Data collecting programs that are installed with the user's knowledge are not, properly speaking, spyware, if the user fully understands what data is being collected and with whom it is being shared

Trojan. Trojans are not viruses as such, as they do not replicate to make copies of themselves. They are in fact programs that are installed on remote computers and produce no damage (at least not at first), although they may be accompanied by other damaging programs. Trojans are designed to open a back door on the victim machine, which makes it vulnerable to attack from a malicious user. Among the actions that these programs can carry out the following can be highlighted: capturing screenshots, accessing confidential user information (passwords) which can be sent to remote computers at a later stage, opening security holes in order to make the computer vulnerable to attacks...etc.

Virus. A virus is a program that can enter a computer system in many ways. These programs are special in that they can produce unwanted or damaging effects on infected machines. Once a virus has managed to enter a system, it will situate itself in places where it can be unintentionally run by the user.

A virus will not act until it has been run or until a certain pre-established condition has been met. In some cases, the effects produced by a virus, something known as the virus payload, will not be seen for some time after it has infected the computer. Among the actions that a virus can carry out the following can be highlighted: damaging the data stored in the hard disk, causing the computer to crash, displaying on-screen messages...etc. One of the main characteristics of viruses if their ability to replicate and propagate to other files or programs.

Worm. A type of malicious program similar to a virus but which infects in a different manner. While viruses infect other programs by copying themselves within files, worms only make copies of themselves.

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