Consultant

The viruses are becoming bigger problems every day. This is a huge problem for users at home as well as for companies. The main reason why these harmful programs are able to spread is the lack of knowledge about protection from viruses and what to do in order to detect and remove a virus.


The faster and cheaper Internet lures more and more users to take advantage of the global network – sending and receiving of e-mails,sharing and downloading of files, live communication and so on. In each one of these options is hidden a danger – the viruses. This is why users must approach the different Internet services with care.

The most common computer infections:

• Viruses - A virus is a small piece of software that piggybacks on real programs.For example, a virus might attach itself to a program such as a spreadsheet program. Each time the spreadsheet program runs, the virus runs, too, and it has the chance to reproduce (by attaching to other programs) or wreak havoc.
• E-mail viruses- An e-mail virus moves around in e-mail messages, and usually replicates itself by automatically mailing itself to dozens of people in the victim`s e-mail address book.
• Worms - A worm is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the network for another machine that has a specific security hole. It copies itself to the new machine using the security hole, and then starts replicating from there, as well.
• Trojan horses- A Trojan horse is simply a computer program. The program claims to do one thing (it may claim to be a game) but instead does damage when you run it (it may erase your hard disk). Trojan horses have no way to replicate automatically.

How to find out if your computer has been infected with some kind of virus?

One way to do it is to perform total computer system scanning from time to time. We suggest that you do this once a week.

The other way to find out doesn’t require you to do anything. Any changes that you detect in your computer can be a virus. For example,if error messages appear on your screen or you have certain files missing from your system then may be this is a sing for a potential virus. However, such behaviors do not always mean that your system has necessarily been infected. To be sure what the problem is when such problems occur perform total scanning of the system.

Before you perform the scanning of your operating system, you have to upgrade the virus definition of your antivirus software that you are using. Also, you have to disable the “system restore” property. Here’s how it works with Windows XP: Click on “Start”, right-click on “My Computer” and choose “Properties”. From there, click on “System Restore” and check the box “disable system restore”. After you do this, choose “Apply” and click “yes” on the window that appears on your screen.

It is a good idea to check which programs start when your operating system is turned on. Some viruses are pointing to their executables and it is possible that they activate themselves before the antivirus system is able to detect them and may cause the malfunction of the antivirus software. To avoid this problem you have to do the following: go to Start --> Run --> type “msconfig” in the window that appears --> choose “Startup” --> choose which programs you want to start when you turn on your operating system. It is important that you don’t change anything unless you are 100% sure that what you are doing is right because otherwise you might cause a serious problem in your system.

The treatment

To start the “treatment” of your system from the viruses, you have to start Windows in Safe Mode, which can be done in the following way: restart your computer and before the loading of your operating system start, click the button F8 on your keyboard. After you have entered the Safe Mode of Windows, you can start your antivirus program in order to thoroughly scan your system. After the scanning is done and the infected files are removed from your operating system, look at the statistic and make sure the number of the removed infected files is the same as the number of the detected infected files. If the numbers do no not match, find out what other infected files you have to remove and do so by choosing certain tools for their removal. Each manufacturer offers such mini applications which different options and tools to remove different types of viruses.

After all of the viruses have been detected and removed, return your system to its initial stage as you turn on again the restoration of the system from “System Restore”.

Prevention

Your behavior with the Internet is very important in order to avoid having your system infected by viruses and even loosing important information. Here are a few suggestions that will dramatically decrease the potential of contacting a virus if you follow them strictly:

• Never start up programs from unknown source, such as programs downloaded from the Internet. If there is absolutely no other way of getting the specific program that you want other than from the Internet, scan its files to check if it has the potential to infect your system.
• Avoid visiting porn or hackers websites.
• When you receive an e-mail, check who the sender is and if the sender is unknown to you it is safer to not open it.
• When you receive an e-mail with attached file to it, always scan the file to make sure it does not carry any viruses even if the sender is known to you.

These simple suggestions can save your computer from serious trouble.The problem with choosing a good anti-virus program is a different story. Also, in companies with more advanced and complicated computer infrastructures, the measures you need to take in order to avoid system infection are different than the ones described above. There is professional staff that specifically makes sure the computers are protected but this is a different subject that we are going to analyze later.