IT Services

Infected with a computer virus? Here's how to remove it!

The best way to remove trojan viruses... Is to not have to...

If you are confused by that statement, keep reading and let me explain.

Types of Computer Viruses

A trojan computer virus aka a trojan horse virus is one of the worst types of virus infections your computer can have. Trojan computer viruses are known to delete files, alter files, change desktop backgrounds, and skew desktop icons. In some cases a trojan virus has been known to allow unauthorized access to your computer.

A worm which is another type of computer virus is similar to a trojan computer virus in that it can allow unauthorized access to a computer and/or alter files. The main difference is that a worm computer virus is designed to spread from one computer to multiple computers. The worm virus spreading capability is usually facilitated within networked computer environments. For this reason good internetwork security is required for small businesses.

For this discussion when the term computer virus is mentioned, it is referring to any type of worm computer virus, trojan computer virus or any other variation of a computer virus.

How do you get infected with computer viruses in the first place?

One of the main reasons our computers become infected with a virus is because of software we have downloaded from the internet or programs we have installed from untrustworthy sources. Most of the time the files we are downloading will seem harmless, which of course is the main objective of the virus creator.

Innocent children and/or teenagers who share computers with the rest of the family are usually the culprits which help assist with computer virus infections. This is usually because of surfing on websites designed to lure novice internet users to unexpectedly download a computer virus. An innocent looking online game website may be a malicious computer virus breeding ground. Note that novice computer users are not always to blame for the infection. A malicious computer virus is designed to get past even some of the most computer savvy users out there.

How to prevent getting infected with a computer virus.

There are a few ways I recommend to completely avoid getting infected with a virus.

1. Install GOOD computer virus software and/or internet security software.

There is free virus protection software available. The most popular free computer virus software is by AVG http://www.avg.com/ . I don't recommend the free version of this software as the saying is always true, "You get what you pay for". I recommend either Norton Internet Security by Symantec http://www.symantec.com or Mcafee Antivirus http://www. mcafee.com. They are the best in the industry and in our opinion your computer investment should be protected by the best.

2. Never download anything from the internet.

While this sounds a bit extreme, this is one of the best ways to ensure that you will not get infected with a virus. Obviously this is not practical for most people so option one is still the top choice.

3. Never click anything that asks you to remove a virus or to install virus protection because "your computer has been infected"

This too may sound extreme however most computer virus protection software today will not ask you for permission to remove a virus, they will do it for you automatically. If this is not the default behavior you should set it to be the default behavior from the options menu.

There are a lot of tricky online programs that will transform your internet explorer or Firefox browser into a window that resembles an authentic "Microsoft Windows" Window. This window will appear to be software on your pc that is scanning your local hard drive for computer viruses. It will then tell you that you have been infected and try to get you to install software. The trick is that this is only designed to deceive you into installing malware, spyware, or a computer virus. A sample screenshot of this type of window is below. Notice that while the window may appear to be from your local computer it is actually an internet explorer browser window (see the URL at the top of the window)

If you see something like this, do NOT panic. The next thing you should do is DO NOT CLICK ANYTHING! Your next steps should be to hit CTRL+ALT+Delete once. Then go to the task manager and shut down all open applications on your computer. Next restart your computer and run a full computer virus scan (if you have software installed). Note that if accessing the task manager does not work, power off your computer. You may lose some unsaved work but you will spare your computer investment.

What is the best computer virus removal method?

You've waited this long and I have to tell you that I have bad news. There are many computer virus removal articles on the internet. Most of them will tell you that it is possible to remove a computer virus, but they are only telling you half of the truth. The truth is that most if not all of the time, once you are infected it is almost impossible to completely remove the virus without re-installing your operating system. By the time most people realize they have a virus, they also have been infected with spyware. These programs are very hard to remove. Most of the time you may think you have removed spyware and computer viruses but they are still lurking in the background.

Can I just buy software to remove my computer virus after it has been infected ?

You could, but in my opinion, virus protection software is just that - Virus Protection. I don't have faith in computer virus protection software removing computer viruses. Many times, attempting to remove a virus will cause you to lose important system files and make your PC unusable. This is why we simply recommend that prevention is the best remedy to keeping viruses off of your computers.

I am a novice computer user and I think I have a computer virus, what do I do?

You can start by trying some of the tips mentioned in this article. If you still feel uncomfortable handling this yourself, let Selden IT Solutions handle your computer virus removal project. We have a wealth of Affordable IT Services that can assist you with all your computer repair needs.

More Info

"We have formulated a set of managed services which can satisfy many needs for your business."

"...cut costs while increasing productivity and profitability."

"All of our managed services systems are maintained 24/7 by industry experts"

"...we can also dispatch an onsite technician to resolve issues. "

"...hardware and software costs are virtually eliminated."