What to do if your computer gets infected with a virus

                                                                                         

The Internet has provided conspiracy theorists with a perfect medium to propagate their ideas. Wild notions about the CIA, NASA or the British Royals are given a whole new audience of global proportions, some of whom are willing and even eager to believe them. Conspiracy theories are often at least thought somewhat plausible because they maybe have just a hint of truth to them. If there’s a conceivable motive, for example, it just could be true.

The Computer Virus Conspiracy Theory

One conspiracy theory concerns antivirus software manufacturers. Some people are convinced that these software manufacturers are scaremongerers, eager to make money from customers who are deathly afraid of computer infection. The claim goes that the malicious software situation isn’t really as bad as antivirus experts like to paint it. The experts just need to earn a living in the sector, so they become doomsayers and scam artists who prey on people’s fears to get their cash, forcing them to pay for a service that they don’t really need.

A more extreme theory says that the antivirus people and the malicious programmers are in cahoots with each other or worse yet, that they’re the same people. So you’re buying protection from the guy who created the security breach in the first place!

The truth is, there is absolutely no evidence of collusion between malicious programmers and the people out to prevent their software from undermining your computer’s processes. Furthermore, the malicious software situation is worse than ever before. Virus protection software developers are actually fighting a losing battle against virus authors with success rates for virus detection getting worse and worse according to some studies. So it is likely that at some point, your computer will get infected.

What to do in case of a Computer Infection

There are a number of options to consider once your computer is infected with a virus.

Sometimes, a system slowdown may indicate infection. Symptoms can also be even more obvious. You may think re-booting your computer may help, or pulling out that power outlet before things can get any worse might just resolve things, but sometimes switching off and booting up the computer again is exactly what a virus needs in order to harness all the malicious powers its designer has bestowed.

You may be better off staying logged on and while you launch your virus scanner, searching your antivirus software manufacturer and operating system manufacturer’s websites for patches, the latest updates and any fixes, and then running the updated scanner again if needs be. If your protection software has identified the threat but can’t remove it, it will most probably have a name for the malicious software that you can run a web search on.

The opinions of the experts differ, however, and you could argue that remaining online seeking the cure for an infected computer is unethical because it may help to spread the disease to other poor unfortunates. This too is something you need to consider.

If you’ve downloaded all your updates or you’ve found advice online, you might try implementing your corrective measures in Safe Mode if you have a Windows OS. The processes that you can perform in Safe Mode are limited and so too are the abilities of the malicious programming. Safe Mode is specifically designed to run diagnostic tasks. However, always seek the best possible advice when trying to rid your OS of a virus.

Fiddling with the boot sector or the Windows Registry can do more harm than good if you don’t know what you’re doing. If you find advice online, look for tips specific to the removal of the particular piece of malware on your hard drive. Prevention is better than cure – regularly back up your files and always store your system restore disks in a safe place. Try not to do anything that could make things worse, and if all else fails, bring in the experts.

About the author:
TechSpoon is a computer repair services provider bringing enterprise computer and network support services to small business in a personal and reliable manner at a fraction of industry costs. They also assist consumers at home with Convenient in home computer repair service for their personal computers for http://techspoon.com/index.html"> computer repair service , Computer Repair Services, Computer Consulting, Computer Help, http://techspoon.com/businessServices.html"> computer virus issues and more. With technicians located nationally computer repair is a phone call away. Computer help can be reached at 877-TECH 101 for

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