Information Addicts

Viruses are on the increase, as everything from virus-writing kits to spam-spewing zombies are available for rent or hire on the internet, making it very easy for unscrupulous individuals to get their hands on them. From then on, creating viruses is as simple as 1-2-3.
So can you be 100% sure that you don’t have a virus on your pc?
Even if you have Antivirus software installed, if it is not up to date then it will not be protecting you from the latest threats. If you don’t have any Antivirus software installed then you could be in for a big surprise.
Many people use their computers on a daily basis, not realizing that their computer may have a virus, which could be doing anything from corrupting their data to sending confidential files to somewhere else in the world.
Without knowing it you could be spreading a virus to friends, family and work colleagues, because viruses can spread very easily via emails, attachments or downloads.

How do you know if your computer’s infected with a Virus?

There are many types of symptoms which indicate that your computer may have a virus. I will attempt to include as many as I can think of.
If you notice “strange things” happening to your computer, for example:

• unexpected messages pop up or images are suddenly displayed
• unusual sounds or music played at random
• your CD-ROM drive mysteriously opens and closes
• the cursor moves around the screen on its own
• applications fail to open or open of their own accord
• your pc slows down and you notice that it is using most of the processor
• the hard drive light seems to be constantly on even though your not doing anything on the pc
• your computer slows down when programs are started
• when you switch on the pc the operating does not load
• files and folders may have had their content changed or even been deleted
• your pc constantly freezes and you receive error messages
• if you use Internet Explorer and it seems to behave erratically or it freezes
• your firewall warns you that some applications are trying to connect to the network, although you did not start any of these programs, then it is very likely that your computer has been infected by a virus
I may have missed some other problems out, but the above should give you a good idea of what to expect.

Even if your pc does not show any of the above symptoms, I recommend that you make sure that your Antivirus software is up to date, and you run a thorough scan at least every 2 weeks, because you can never be to careful.

If you don’t have any Antivirus software installed, then go down to number 4 below for advice.

Ok, so you think that you may have a virus, what do you do now?

Disconnect your pc from the internet as you do not want to spread the virus, corrupt or lose any data, (unfortunately that might be too late).

If the computer has restarted itself and will not load the operating system (you may get an error message) try to start the system in Safe Mode or from the Windows boot disk.

Before you do anything else, if you can, try and back up all your important data to CD, DVD, floppy, flash memory or an external drive. I am hoping at this point you have previously backed up.

From here you have a few options,
1. If you have an Antivirus program that is up to date then run a full thorough scan.

or

2. If you have an Antivirus program, but it is not up to date then you need to download the latest version. At this point you will be tempted to connect to the internet and update it that way, but if you do, then you may spread the virus or worse, the virus may send important information to third parties or even try to send itself to all email addresses in your address book. Try to obtain the updates from a friends pc, from work or anywhere else that you are able to download the updates, (you could even try a library or internet café).

3. If all else fails, and you are unable to obtain the updates for your Antivirus then you will have to connect to the internet to do this, (I don’t recommend this but some users have no option).

4. If you don’t have an Antivirus program installed on your pc (why not, only kidding) then you need to get one, you can either purchase one from a computer retailer or download one. Before you part with your cash I highly recommend Avast (click on the link) or AVG (click here to go to the webpage), which are free. If you’re going to download the software, then you need to get access to anther pc and not use the infected one. If that is not possible then you will need to connect to the internet and download the software from your pc (again I don’t really recommended this). Remember, you also need all updates as well.
Install the Antivirus software.

When you have completed one of the above (if you are still connected to the internet then disconnect from it), and perform a full system scan.

After the scan, if no viruses are found then you can rejoice.
However if your pc is still doing strange things, then make sure that your windows operating system has the latest updates, in Windows XP, click Start > Control Panel > then click on the Security Centre icon (make sure you have the classic view visible ) and under Resources on the left had side of the window click on ‘Check for the latest updates from windows update’ then follow the instructions.
Check that all your hardware drivers are up to date, and that all your applications have the latest updates. Uninstall any unlicensed software from your pc and clean your hard drive of any junk files. Lastly select Start > All Programs > Accessories > System tools > Disk clean up, select the c: drive, click ok, the pc will do a scan and when the dialog box comes up, tick the boxes and click ok to delete the files.

What if a virus is found during or after the scan?

In most cases, pcs are infected by worms, Trojans (which are files that claim to be something desirable, but in fact are malicious), or viruses. Any lost data can normally be successfully recovered.

1. Most antivirus programs will provide the option to disinfect for infected objects, quarantine possibly infected objects and delete worms and Trojans. A report will provide the names of the malicious software discovered on your computer.

2. In some cases, you may need a special utility to recover data that has been corrupted. Visit your antivirus software vendor’s site, and search for information about the virus (from another pc if possible), Trojan or worm which has infected your computer. Download any special utilities if these are available.

3. After removing the virus, do a another thorough scan as viruses have a habit of reinstalling themselves. If your Antivirus software warns you of another virus (possibly one that it removed earlier) then write down the name of the virus and google it on another pc to find out how to fully uninstall it.

4. As I have written earlier, try and do your updates, searching etc on another pc as you don’t know what the virus on your pc is up to. If this is not possible then you will have to do it all on your infected pc.

Unfortunately, some viruses cannot be removed from infected objects. Some of these viruses may corrupt information on your computer when infecting, and it may not be possible to restore this information. If a virus cannot be removed from a file, the file should be deleted.

When you know that the virus has been cleaned and removed, it is best to scan all disks including any removable drives that you backed up your data on to, as these may have also been infected.

Always make sure that you have an Antivirus program installed, updated, and at least once a fortnight do a thorough scan. Most good Antivirus programs update themselves when connected to the internet.
Unlike Spyware applications where you can have more than one installed at a time, with Antivirus programs you should only have one installed on your pc as they can interfere with each other and give false virus error messages.

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 10:35 am and is filed under PC Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.