RootKits
If you have read any recent information about spyware, adware or malware, you have probably come across the term rootkits. This is a layman's explanation of rootkits.
Rootkits, by themselves, are not good or bad. They are simply tools with the purpose of hiding or concealing files, running process, registry keys and such on a computer's operating system. This may sound nefarious by definition. However, there are many legitimate reasons that software may use rootkit technology.
However in recent years, they have been used in malicious ways by such software as trojans, worms, spyware, malware and adware. Probably one of the most common reasons that rootkits are used by these types of software applications is to avoid detection and removal by security software. They are also used in more destructive ways in order to hide an application's presence on a computer so that the application can allow a "back door" to the computer allowing an unauthorized person to take control of the computer and/or install other software onto the computer. Rootkits can be used to hide such destructive activity as using the computer to send spam, capture sensitive and personal information from the computer, and install adware without the computer owner's consent.
Whether or not a rootkit is considered "bad" depends how and why they are being used by a software application.
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