Virus detection and removal

There may be several signs that a computer has a virus infection . It is often difficult to distinguish whether there is an hardware error or a software problem since viruses are  written to  avoid detection, and to damage your computer.

 

Some of  the common problems caused by computer viruses are:
1. Sudden system crashes and computer reboots automatically.
2. Application software crashes and random messages are displayed on the monitor.

3. Computer becomes very slow

4. Hard disk data gets corrupted and hard disk will not boot

How to fix it:
If there is a problem which could be caused either by a hardware malfunction or a virus , it is advisable to first run an antivirus program. It is cheaper and easier to solve a problem using free antivirus software.

Get a free antivirus program. Some of  the free antivirus programs available are:

1. Norton Anti Virus Special Edition 2005 from Symantec in Google Pack. Free updates for a period of six months

2. AVG Anti-virus free edition - change the default email scanning option as it slows the system down

3. Avast - can be installed for 60 days, before you register it for free

Download the anti virus software to your computer hard disk and install the software. Get the latest updates from the companies website.
Run the antivirus software, preferably in safe mode. If  any virus is detected, the antivirus software will first try to clean the infected file. If this is not possible, the software will quarantine the file.

To prevent computer virus problems in future

1. Install a firewall to protect your computer when you connect to the internet

2. Do not allow anyone to install software or copy any files to your computer without scanning the software /data with the latest updated anti virus software

3. Never open files with suspicious attachments, especially if they are from strangers. Always request files to be sent as a text attachment.

4. Avoid joining paid to read , adult , file sharing and other illegal websites,  the computers of visitors to these websites usually get  infected with viruses and spy ware.

Use System Restore, when antivirus and Spyware remover software does  not work