Differences Between Antivirus & Anti-Spyware

While viruses and spyware both tend to be lumped into the category of "malware," or programs that do something to your computer against your will, they actually behave quite differently, and often require different programs to keep your computer safe from their malicious code.

Viruses

Viruses tend to be destructive in nature, but some attempt to take over computers for use in distributed attacks or as automatic spam senders.

Spyware

Spyware tends to be less obtrusive, since its goal is to track your computer use and personal information, reporting back to the author.

Detection

Antispyware and antivirus programs identify malware both through known program signatures and also through identifying malware behavior in unknown programs.