Trojan Horse

A Trojan Horse is a malicious spyware program the disguises itself as being harmless. The name Trojan Horse comes from the little "peace offering" the Greeks made to the Trojans in the mythological account of the Trojan War. The Trojan Horse is actually one of the oldest forms of malware.

Some of the most common ways of getting a Trojan Horse installed on your computer include:

• Downloading what appears to be a useful or harmless application from an unknown source.
• Using peer to peer applications to exchange data such as Kazaa.
• Opening an email attachment that appears to be harmless from an unknown source.

Once on your computer the Trojan Horse goes on a course of infection throughout your computer. These malicious programs often accomplish their task of deleting and stealing personal data found on your computer. Many computer users have banking and tax information on their computer which can easily be stolen through a Trojan Horse.

Often times Trojan Horse is referred to as a virus. In reality, unlike a computer virus, a Trojan Horse does not replicate itself. The user will start the replication process by unknowingly giving this helpful utility to their friends via email or diskette thinking they have come across something useful they want to share.

For Trojan Horse removal, we recommend using an anti-spyware program or a security program that has an anti-spyware component. It's important to keep your spyware definitions up to date to prevent against infection by new Trojan Horse programs. A good anti-spyware program will give you protection against all types of spyware, not just Trojan Horses, and will be able to clean spyware from your PC as well.