Today I want to talk a little about the dreaded computer virus. The goal of this article is to teach you, the home user, the fundamental skills needed to help detect, remove, and most importantly prevent viruses from infecting your computer. As the owner of a computer consulting business, I have seen 1st hand how much damage computer viruses can do. To help protect yourself from a virus attack, it will be necessary to understand exactly what a virus is. A virus is essentially a software program designed with malicious intentions, to copy itself and spread from one computer to another. What makes a virus so dangerous is what they are designed to do.

A virus, once installed on your computer, can easily corrupt or delete data from your computer. This can be anything from your latest Word document to the irreplaceable pictures of your loved ones. We will get into exactly what a virus can do later in this article. Now that you have an idea of what a virus is and what it can do to your computer, lets discuss how your computer gets infected. I have heard countless times from people, ” But I did not open any email attachments, how can I be infected?” While it is true that a majority of viruses are hidden within email attachments, they can also be downloaded into our computers in the form of images, videos, or even instant messages. I have personally removed a virus from Cd’s, jump drives, and floppy disks.

Lets talk about ways to help protect your computer from viruses. To protect your computer from these threats it is vital that you have an anti virus program installed and up to date. I have seen many times in the field computers that have anti virus programs but still are infected with a virus. Let me point out that not all anti virus programs are equal. I will not discuss in this article which anti virus program you should or should not use however email me and I will be happy to help you in that aspect. Your anti virus program will do you little good if you do not keep your definitions up to date. New virus are being identified all the time so it is vital to keep your anti virus program up to date on the latest threats. Another proven method is to use a firewall.

A firewall is essentially software or hardware that is designed to filter out information that is being sent to or from your computer. Think of a firewall as a Guard at the end of your driveway, before anyone enters your home they must first pass a set of rules or security checks you have given before they are allowed to enter your home. Some of the software-based firewalls include Norton Internet Security, Zone Alarm and Trend Micro. You may be using a hardware firewall and not even know it. If you have a LAN (Local area network) then chances are you have a router of some kind. Most routers come built in with a firewall, which is very effective at protecting your computer from viruses. Another technique used to help prevent viruses is to keep your computer up to date. If you are using a windows based PC, check Windows Update often for any security patches that are released.

Do not open email attachments if you do not know the sender, this is asking for trouble. Lets move on to identifying infected computers. As a PC technician, it is my responsibility to quickly identify the signs of virus infections. Computers with virus infections will often show some of the following symptoms. Please note, that the issues listed below may be caused by several problems, such as spyware, and are not specific to viruses. Your computer may be slow to start or shut down. You may be missing data on your hard drive or, in worst case scenarios, lose all data on the drive. You may experience strange error messages or you computer will shut down unexpectedly. Your fonts may be distorted and overlap or you may experience difficulties in printing.

These are just some examples of the harm viruses can do. Now the most difficult part, removal. This is a topic worthy of its own article as there are many different procedures in virus removal. I will discuss with you the very basics. If you think you are the victim of a virus do a thorough scan of your computer. It may also be beneficial if you scan your hard drive while in safe mode. This is usually accomplished by tapping F8 at start up, but refer to your computer’s manual for instructions to be certain.

If you do not have an anti virus program, first thing to do is get one! In the meantime you may use the services of an online virus removal tool. Many of the popular anti virus programs offer this service. My intent of this article was to help inform you of the dangers virus threats can pose, as well as giving you the knowledge to help detect, remove and prevent these threats. I hope I have accomplished this, and you can walk away after reading this article, feeling more confident of your abilities to protect your computer from virus threats. Derick Nigro is the owner and operator of
Computers at a Glance A Computer Consulting business in Southern New Hampshire. Have a Tech question you want answered? Vist
Ask Derick! and we will answer your question within 24 hours!Rocket Languages

Computers are awesome in their capabilities. They can supply intense graphics, audio, and powerful software applications. They can help you in business and entertain you from the visually intense screen in front of you.
Once you hook that computer up to the Internet you may be unintentionally inviting cyber bad guys to access information from your site. Through an Internet connection hackers may be able to access your information or company data. Spyware can mess up registries and attach themselves to files on your computer that can slow it down.
Viruses can creep in unexpectedly and cause the complete crash of your system. Viruses can also be used to redistribute the virus through your email system.
A friend of mine recently had an issue with a spyware program that attached itself following a brief power outage. That one instance caused him several weeks of problems with Internet connection and being able to conduct his business.
Every computer, but a business computer for certain, should have a variety of security safeguards in place to help you manage company data and keep your computers running at optimum speed and performance.
Virus Protection
Similar to human viruses the computer virus can infect your computer and you may not know about it until it has already done significant damage. By accessing virus protection you can provide a cyber antibiotic consistently that allows your computer to fight off unwanted viruses before they have a chance to shred data.
Pop Up Blocker
Some may view pop ups as an annoyance, but some pop ups may contain malicious code that could harm your computer. Many browser applications can allow you to stop pop ups from finding their way to your screen, It may be in your best interest to stop the pop.
Spyware
They want to know where you go and what sites you visit and they find their way onto virtually every computer that is online. They may not be overtly malicious, but when there are too many of them they can cause your system to come to a crawl.
You deserve your privacy online so it may be beneficial to download a spyware extractor and use it often.
Firewall
A firewall is a cyber tool that can help keep your computer uninviting to hackers. The firewall works to clock entrance to your system from outside, A hacker could still access your computer if they really want to, but if there is an easier target they may be inclined to leave your system alone.
Registry Cleaner
Although not a mandatory item a registry cleaner can help restore or fix registry data that can improve the speed on your computer. Essentially what spyware might take away a registry cleaner can restore for the benefit of your system.
It would be Cyber Utopia if the bad guys would simply leave the Internet alone, but they remain a consistent presence that makes the use of a broad range of security issues necessary for all online users.
Safe computing software may not just be a good idea it may be just what you need to save company data from those who don’t share your personal and professional values. uk paid surveys

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Norton 360 Version 3.0 offers proven performance, delivering today’s fastest and lightest all-in-one solution for protecting your PC and all your online activities. It protects against viruses, worms, hackers, and botnets, safeguards against online identity theft, protects important files, and keeps your PC tuned and running at peak performance. Completely automated and easy to use, Norton 360 works quietly in the background, with virtually no impact on PC performance, t (more…)

Should I use a free antivirus program or a paid version? In todays world on the internet, we are always looking for a product or service that is free. However, when it comes to a virus protection, free is not always free.Think about it for a minute. Why would anyone sit down on the computer and spend hours and hours of time to develop and maintain a software program and do it for free. There has got to be someone wanting to make money off of you some how or they could not continue with their activities.In addition, many of the so called free programs do not have technical support. How would they be able to support technical help if they could not pay them. When you have a problem, you are going to want someone to help you.Spyware – Many software programs that are free, have some type of spyware attached. If the maker or developer of the program is not charging you, then how are they going to make money. Spyware is attached to the program and your system may be tracked for advertisement purposes.In some cases your system may be scanned for e-mail address or other information that you may not want to give out. Please be very careful with any free program you install on your computer.Better yet, make sure you have a firewall, anti virus program and anti spyware program installed on your computer for all of your internet security protection1. 3. BitDefender Anti Virus4. Shield Pro 20075. Mcafee AntiVirus You can find the top rated Anti-Virus programs along with discounts at Wordpress Autoblog Plugin