{"id":9211,"date":"2017-08-22T11:54:54","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T07:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?p=9211"},"modified":"2020-10-13T16:06:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T12:06:30","slug":"not-a-virus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/not-a-virus\/9211\/","title":{"rendered":"Not-a-Virus: What is it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes, Kaspersky Plus<\/a> pops up a window with a yellow frame and informs the user that \u201cnot-a-virus\u201d has been detected on the computer. Of course, any curious user would wonder why, if something is not a virus<\/em>, an antivirus application would inform them about it.<\/p>\n

Actually, your antivirus has reason for concern. Although the object in question is indeed not a malicious program, it\u2019s something you should know about anyhow. Let us delve into the definition of \u201cnot-a-virus,\u201d what kind of applications trigger the warning, and what should you do about those applications.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, Kaspersky Internet Security associates \u201cnot-a-virus\u201d with two types of applications: adware and riskware. Both types are not malicious by nature, so they cannot be called viruses. Still, users should know that they are installed; the applications may do something unwanted.<\/p>\n\n

What is adware?<\/h2>\n

Adware<\/a> is software with advertising material. This type of software can show you advertisements, alter search results, collect user data to show targeted contextual advertising, or all of the above.\"\"<\/p>\n

Adware technically is not malicious, but there is nothing good about it, either. All hell may break loose when a few dozen adware applications sneak onto a computer and start to compete with one another for resources<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That said, adware is legitimate software that is installed on computers with the formal consent of users \u2014 the catch is, users may not notice a preselected check box during the installation of another application, and thus agree to install adware. Other instances of such monkey business abound, but they are all alike in one way: If users read everything carefully, then they can decline the adware installation.<\/p>\n

If adware does not notify the user of its attempt to install itself on the computer, then Kaspersky Internet Security treats it as a malicious Trojan. In that case, the notification will have a red frame, not a yellow one, and the application will be blocked immediately. By the way, you can check out this article<\/a> in which we discuss what the frame colors of notification windows mean in our products.<\/p>\n

My Big Fat Adware Cleaning<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n