Keygen vs Virus
Although most of the software we can get nowadays are of the good kind, there’s always the dark type of software that does harm rather than good. Among these shady types of software are viruses and keygens. The biggest difference between a keygen and a virus is the intent. A virus is designed to be malicious and is meant to do damage or obtain information from the infected computer. On the other hand, a keygen is not necessarily a malicious software as it is not the main purpose of the software.
Keygen is the common name for serial key generator. These software contains the algorithms that software makers use in verifying that the software was actually bought. Since keygens know the algorithm, it is also able to generate the serial keys that can activate the software; allowing people to use the full features of the software without actually paying for it. This is piracy and is considered to be illegal in majority of the countries worldwide. Although illegal, many people still search for it and download it to pirate software. When it comes to viruses, nobody really wants that or actively searches for it; but eventually and inevitably gets infected anyway. Virus payloads may contain a wide variety of effects that range from annoying to very serious. At the worst, you can be exposed to credit card fraud or identity theft. So every precaution against virus infections is essential.
The reason why keygens and viruses are intertwined is because the former commonly contains the latter. The people who want to spread their viruses typically use keygens as a vessel. This can be done in two ways. The first is to make a virus infected application impersonate a keygen. Users mistakenly download it in the belief that it is an actual keygen and get infected. The second way is to get a working keygen and infect it with the virus. This is a bit harder to detect without the right tools since the keygen would work as it should but would also infect you with the virus.
Staying away from keygens lets you avoid another potential threat from viruses. Using keygens, even without viruses, is not advised as you will run afoul of the law and possibly get arrested.
Summary:
- A virus is a malicious file while a keygen is not necessarily malicious
- A keygen is used to generate serial keys to activate software while a virus is used to deliver a payload
- Keygens are often used to infect computers with viruses