11 Ways To Prevent Computer Viruses
It doesn’t matter if you’ve been on the Internet for five minutes or five years, you’ve probably thought about ways in which you can prevent a computer virus from entering your machine. A virus can compromise your personal information and even destroy your computer completely. Luckily, there are many low cost things you can do to protect yourself and stay one step ahead of the hackers. Here are 11 things you can do to help prevent computer viruses from invading your computer.
1. Install a reliable anti virus program – From the first moment you turn your computer on, you should have a trusted anti virus program by your side. Even if you have a machine that isn’t hooked up to the Internet, a reliable anti virus program is a low cost and common sense addition to any machine. There are even free anti virus programs you can download that work almost as well as industry giants like Norton and McAfee.
2. Install anti-spyware and anti-malware programs – As good as the best anti virus programs are, they sometimes need a little bit of help. Thankfully, many of the top anti-spyware programs are completely free. Spybot Search and Destroy and CCleaner are just two free programs that can help prevent computer viruses from doing any damage on your machine. As helpful as these programs are, however, you must update them and run them on a regular basis for them to do any good.
3. Avoid suspicious websites – A good virus protection program will alert you when you visit a website that attempts to install or run a program on your computer. Many less than reputable adult websites do this, so if you get a warning, don’t go back, you may end up with a bug you can’t get rid of.
4. Never Open Email Attachments Without Scanning Them First – The most common way viruses are spread throughout the Internet is still via email. Some attachments, like pictures, now display in emails and don’t require an attachment to be manually opened, but other documents do. Make sure you use an email client that scans all email attachments before you are allowed to open them. This will help prevent computer viruses from getting a foothold on your machine.
5. Set up Automatic Scans – Many of the top anti virus programs, as well as the best anti-spyware programs, now have settings that will let them automatically run during down times or in the middle of the night. Of course, your computer must be on for this to happen, but having daily scans run when nothing else is going on is a great way to prevent even the latest computer viruses from sticking around too long.
6. Watch Your Downloads – Part of the fun of the Internet is downloading music, movies and other items. However, since these downloads are so massive, it can be easy to sneak a virus along for the ride. Only download these files from trusted sites that you can count on, or, at the very least, scan them before you open them.
7. Updates, Updates, Updates – There is a reason why Windows has a feature called Critical Updates. There is an entire branch of Microsoft dedicated to staying one step ahead of the hackers out there so when they manage to fix a possible security loophole, you need to download the patch right away. Help Microsoft help you prevent computer viruses from causing too much trouble.
8. Know What To Look For – Even if you are just a casual computer user, you should have an idea of how your machine operates, what normal pop up windows look like and what popular viruses are out there, that way, when your computer begins exhibiting tell tale signs, you’ll know. You can help prevent computer viruses by staying updated and educated.
9. Stay Away From Cracked Software – It is so secret that you can download illegal, cracked versions of some programs online. As tempting as it may be, these files are almost always infested with advanced and difficult to detect bugs. Play it safe and get your software from the source.
10. Install a Firewall – A firewall is a program that screens incoming Internet and network traffic. Along with your virus program, it can help prevent unauthorized access to your computer.
11. Be prepared to Lock Down – If you hear of a virus that is spreading like wildfire through the Internet, make an extra effort to be careful. Don’t open any suspicious emails or accept any downloads for a week or two until your virus protection program has been updated and you are, once again, safe.
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Friday, May 25, 2012
11 Ways To Prevent Computer Viruses
Firewall Protection
Firewall Protection - Why You Need It?
If your house has an alarm system, surveillance cameras, or any type of security equipment to prevent burglars, then you can compare it to a firewall. A firewall will monitor and limit connections to your computer from the internet and other users. A computer without a firewall is defenseless, and makes it easier for hackers or unwanted programs to invade your computer. There are two types of firewalls, hardware or software.
Routers are devices that act as hardware firewalls. They prevent other users and unwanted software from entering your network. Routers are not only great for firewalls, but also can be used for sharing and connecting computers to a network. Some people use Network Address Translation (NAT) routers as firewalls, even though NAT routers primary purpose is to share an internet connection with local computers. If you do not have a router firewall, you can use a software firewall that will do the job.
There are many software firewalls out there, but only a few are free. Most of the software firewalls are shareware, trials or subscription. Some free versions only have some features and if you want the full package, you will need to pay. Window XP comes with a decent firewall, but you need to make sure you have Service Pack 2 and the latest updates installed.
You can check to see if your Windows XP firewall is running by clicking Start / Control Panel / Windows Firewall, or another way is My Computer / Control Panel / Network Connections / Right click your "Local Area Network" and click properties / Click on the Advance tab then click Settings. You can click to turn your windows firewall on or off.
Software firewalls can be very complex as they contain several features. Some of the features are antivirus and antispyware, program control, e-mail protection and privacy control. These features help boost your protection for your computer, since a firewall alone cannot do everything. A disadvantage of having a software firewall instead of a hardware firewall is that it will use your computer's resources to function. Make sure you have enough memory to prevent your system from crashing. Software firewalls can manage inbound and outbound traffic by placing policies or rules. These policies will allow or reject your programs from accessing the internet, and prevent any unwanted internet programs from invading your computer. These policies are at the owners control and may change any setting as they wish.
Firewalls may give the user increased security by protecting your computer from hackers, as opposed to having no firewall. Hackers will try anything to get into your computer by searching through your computer's ports. Your computer has many ports. They are used to connect to the internet, but sometimes they are left open. Hackers can send a virus or spyware to these ports, and take control of your computer. To prevent this from happening, a firewall will make sure all unused ports are closed.
If you plan to access the internet without a firewall, it is like putting your hand in a beehive. The risk of you being stung are high, and it is the same risk for your computer to be hacked. Without a firewall your ports will be opened, and make it vulnerable for hackers. Therefore, choose a proper firewall that suits your needs. For more information, visit my blog PC Software Revealed for details about the recommended software to keep you computer safe.
11 Ways Computer Viruses Are Spread.
11 Ways Computer Viruses Are Spread
t is the worst nightmare of every computer user: you wake up one day and realize that you have a virus, and you don’t know quite how to get rid of it. Most people these days understand what a virus is and how harmful it can be, but they are still somewhat unsure how computer viruses spread. The truth is that there are dozens of different ways in which a virus can spread from computer to computer, but let’s take a look at the most frequent ways in which people run into viruses, spyware and Trojans on the Internet.
1. Email attachments. The world became familiar with the phenomena of email attachments carrying viruses thanks to Microsoft’s Outlook Express automatically opening every attachment to every email you received a few years back. Now that email clients no longer do this, the infection rate from email attachments is significantly lower, but it can still be a common problem. The golden rule is that if you don’t know what an attachment is, don’t open it. To this day, many email users never open attachments, no matter what. You don’t have to take such drastic steps to protect yourself, however; simply use common sense when opening attachments in your email.
2. Rogue Websites. It is depressing to know that you may become infected with spyware or a virus by doing nothing more than simply visiting a website, but it is true. Many adult websites, gambling websites and other less than trustworthy websites will attempt to automatically access your computer when you visit them. They often install adware bugs that will cause a flurry of pop ups to appear on your screen. This adware will often allow for other programs with even more nefarious purposes to be installed and before you know it, your computer will be swamped. To stop these rogue websites, adjust the settings on your antivirus software and firewall so that no outside connections can be made and no programs can be installed without your express permission.
3. Networks. If your computer is connected to a home network or if your work computer is part of a larger network, you may find yourself with an infection through no fault of your own. Someone else on the network downloaded a bug by accident, and within minutes, the entire network could be infected. There isn’t much you can do to stop these kinds of infections, short of having your network administrator ensure that everyone’s antivirus software is up to date so that the invading bug can be removed as quickly as possible.
4. Infected Boot disks. Now that hard drives are obscenely large, the overwhelming percentage of us don’t bother to use boot disks anymore, but a virus can still be spread if an infected disk is in your hard drive and you attempt to restart. When you start your computer, your machine will always check your drives to see if a disk with boot information is present. If one is, your computer will likely automatically attempt to boot from the disk and not from your drive. If a virus is present, it will often be activated and you will become infected. Always know the origin of any disk you put into your drive.
5. Phishing Schemes. Learning how computer viruses spread is important to keep yourself, and your personal information, safe online. Phishing schemes are one of the chief ways in which people end up with their identity stolen and a computer fill of viruses. A phishing scheme starts when you receive an email from a website claiming to be your bank or credit card company. You are asked to click a link and log in, but the truth is that you’ve just given away all of your personal information. Often times, when you visit these sites, spyware, adware and viruses are automatically installed on your computer (see Rogue Websites, above). Your lender or credit card will often send out a real notice that let’s you know that a phishing scheme is going around. The smartest thing you can do is to simply call your bank or credit card company if you receive an email saying there is a problem with your account instead of blindly following links in your email.
6. Infected Software. One of the great things about the Internet is how many free games and programs there are out there, but these free programs often come at a price. Too many rogue websites intentionally infect their freeware (like Kazaa) with trojan viruses so that you unknowingly infect your computer every time you download a free game or piece of software. The key here is to only download freeware or shareware from a trusted source like CNet that always ensures your safety.
7. Hackers. The Internet today is a much more law abiding place than it was ten years ago. Not only did most people not have antivirus protection and firewalls that could stop incoming attacks, most people didn’t even know what they were. Today, people understand the value of good online protection, but hackers can still pose a problem if you allow your protection software to lapse. The best way to beat hackers is to ensure that you have a firewall and up to date antivirus software.
8. Instant Messaging. It is difficult to find a computer in this day and age that doesn’t have at least one instant messaging service installed on it. Unfortunately, these programs are often targets of hackers who see an easy way to trick people into clicking links that lead them to rogue websites. Common sense can keep you out of trouble, however. Only chat with people you know and never follow links to sites that you don’t recognize. You should easily be able to keep Internet worms, viruses and other bugs at bay.
9. Fake Anti Virus Software. This is one of the most frustrating ways to become infected with a virus or worm. There are dozens of anti virus and anti spyware programs you can download for free on the Internet and a surprising number of them actually do exactly the opposite of what they claim. The product websites make outrageous claims that their product can protect you from a whole range of threats, when, in reality, their product will only make things a thousand times worse. Only download antivirus programs from trusted sites or from websites that you know are completely legit.
10. From Mobile Devices. A recent story in the newspaper should serve as a wake up call for anyone who is getting ready to plug in a mobile device into their computer for the first time. A family purchased a digital picture frame from a local store and when they attempted to install the software that came with it, they inadvertently infected their computer with a virus. There really is no way to stop such an infection from happening, since we all buy peripherals that work with our computer, but we can ensure that we have the tools ready to go if an infection should happen. Keep your anti virus software up to date at all times and you should be able to wrestle control back from any Internet bug.
11. Friends and Relatives. Often times, we are sent viruses through our email from people that we know and trust. The social networking site Facebook has had to battle this very problem when their serves get a bug and automatically send out emails to everyone on the system that are infected. Often times, these emails are extremely generic sounding and come with suspicious attachments, but people often open them anyway since they have come from a friend or from a site they trust, like Facebook. Remember, if you get an attachment with an .exe extension or a .dll, don’t ever open it.
Learning how computer viruses spread is the best way we can put an end to their reign of terror online. It is only with the right knowledge and the best antivirus protection software that Internet users everywhere can beat online bugs for good.
EMAIL VIRUSES
EMAIL VIRUSES EFFECTING COMPUTER.
Beware of Email Viruses in Spam - Top Tips to Stay Safe
Giving you more know how of Email virus is the intent of this article. Internet browsing is not the only pastime for people.You may open a mail account and soon you will find so many mails from people you do not seem to know. Sometimes you even find some junk mail from people you seem to know. It is a bad world out there and just beware even if you get a stupid mail that seems to be from your friend do not open it. For now crooks adopt spoofing-A technique by which they use another email id so that you may accept the mail and open it. Phishing is a means used where the "From email id" is spoofed to appear as though it is from your credit card company or your bank. This is to entice you to part with your PIN number and other password with which they will rob your account.
Spamming is popular on the net. Advertising companies target your mail box in a means to send adverts across. But that is not all. You may find a variety of annoying and destructive mail or sometimes mail that has attachments. Many times these attachments contain
- Worms
- Viruses
- Trojan Horses
Means of Infection
Attachments
Humans are gullible and it is this gullibility that virus writers use. The only means of infecting your computer via emails is by opening an attachment that contains a Trojan, a worm or a virus. Once you do this you infect your computer and cause the damage the virus or Trojan is supposed to accomplish. If it is a worm then you have caused more extensive damage not only to your self but to all on the internet. A worm is an email sending virus and send emails to all the others using the email id's from you're the address book of your mail account. The worm thus uses your mail box to spread to others.Email Sending Virus: Spam Infects You
Email sending virus-If you know what file extension are then remember this always when opening your mailbox. Any file with extensionsEmail Client Configuration
Another means of infection is the configuration of your email client. Under any circumstance do not allow any program to "automatically download and run any email attachments". It may contain viruses that can damage your PC. Also many email clients allow MIME extensions allowing others to encrypt and embed files and send it. Opening files from a sender you do not know can also give you an infection.For most cases it is your email client that you use that cause the most problems. The latest email virus the recent KAK virus (JS/Kak, WScript.Kak, Kakworm, VBS/Kak) exploited a problem in the email client MS-Outlook signatures to spread. This used an ActiveX flaw and spread. Nimda activated on some machines by itself and is a combination of a mass mailer worm and virus.
Damage
Email viruses destroy and damage files on computer systems. Most viruses and Trojans are used now-a-days to get financial information that is stored on the computer. Like password and credit card information. Email's are the easiest way to download Trojans which is then used by crooks to obtain personal information. Some email viruses are capable of producing bulk email or spam by sending itself to all the others that are in your address book. The damage can be extensive and cause a denial of service attack on any email server.Prevention
Email virus detection and email virus protection in the form or email filters are many. Spoofing is used to bypass these filters. Prevention is better than cure and the best way to prevent being infected is- Do not open any mail from people you do not know.
- Do not open any mail that looks suspicious. Even, if you get, a 'mail bounce back', when you have not sent a mail.
- Do not open any attachments if it contains any of the extensions detailed above. Do not open files that have extensions that you do not know about.
- Better not to use an email client. Even if you are using one see that you are able to see the extensions of filenames downloaded. Also disable the signature and auto run features that are exploited by some viruses.
- Get a spam filter or activate it with your mail server such that it filters out spam. Since some spam contain Trojans and viruses that can cause damage.
- Be careful of any file even from known sources run and antivirus scan before attempting to open the document or file.
Removal
- Removal of the virus is best done by getting an antivirus and running it
- Also regularly update your antivirus as statistics show that one virus is generated every three minutes.
- Get you computer scanned online by a reputed antivirus scanner like PC-Cillin or Bit defender.
- In case of new viruses look up alerts and find out ways used to prevent and remove such email viruses.
COMPUTER VIRUS
What Went Wrong - How Did my System Get Infected with a Virus?
There are a number of warning signs that indicate the presence of a computer virus infection on your computer system.Look for strange operating behavior such as flashing drive or modem lights, corrupted or lost files (especially Word documents and Excel spreadsheets), or unusual program messages (for instance messages that say your files are not in the correct format.) Sometimes programs are disabled and will not open or new icons appear on your desktop. Your speakers my play strange sounds or your monitor's display may be disrupted.
Frequent and unexplained systems crashes are common symptoms of virus infection. Sometimes the system will "han" on start-up or will take an unusually long time to start. You may receive "out of memory" messages or be unable to install new programs. But how does a virus infect your computer in the first place?
How do Computers become Infected by Viruses?
The simple answer to "how do computer viruses infect your computer" is that you have most probably been tricked into doing something that you shouldn't have done, thus allowing the virus to be activated and to propagate. Some of the worst virus and worm infections are attributed to email messages.The vast bulk of viruses are distributed as attachments to trick email messages. The best piece of advice anyone can follow to protect themselves from computer viruses is, do not open attachments - especially those with the file extensions .vbs or .exe. If you receive a message with an attachment, even from someone you know, send an email asking what the attachment is about and even if they actually sent it.
Many viruses, once activated, send themselves to every email address in the contact list of the infected machine. The virus is designed to appear to be sending benign or useful material or programs. Be suspicious! If you are sending an attachment, clearly state in your message what you are sending (format and content) and expect the same courtesy and caution from your correspondents.
Some Viruses can Crash you PC. Check out the Types of Viruses
People have a very general view that there are many types of computer viruses and are those programs that cause damage or make the system crash.The earliest viruses made the most impact as no anti-virus programs were available. The advent of anti-virus programs spelled a death blow to many common types of computer viruses that were written by the various tools to generate types of computer virus. Those who were inept at programming used these various tool to generate the virus. Devious mind always find new ways when they found that the anti-virus software's were able to disinfect and remove the different types of computer viruses they went on to new methods and that is how Trojans and worms came up.
There are a few main types of computer viruses and these computer virus types are classified below depending upon the infection methods:
Boot sector/Master Boot Record Computer Virus
Means of Infection
Boot sector is that area of the computer that is accessed when the computer is turned on. A boot sector virus infects this portion. Once the boot sector is infected the virus is loaded into memory when the computer is turned on. This virus then infects boot sectors on floppies or other removable media Master Boot record virus only infects the Master boot record and not the boot sectorDamage Caused
Boot sector viruses gain complete control of the master boot record or the DOS boot sector by replacing the operating system contents with that of its own. This allows the virus to spread fast and cause damage:- By gaining control of the master boot record and the DOS boot sector the boot sector viruses can sometimes hide the resources that the computer has( the floppy drive even though attached may not be present)
- Some boot sector viruses contain instructions to redirect disk reads.
- Some boot sector viruses move the master boot record to another location causing the system to crash when it boots up. Other boot sector viruses cause damage to the master boot record
- Some boot sector viruses damage the File Allocation Table (FAT) which is the index of all the files on the drive. This causes loss of data
Removal
The best way to remove boot sector virus is to boot the computer with using a clean boot disk and then rewrite the files with the good operating system files on the infected disk. These viruses were very much prevalent in the ninety's and a host of antivirus programs are now available to detect and clean them effectively. Spyware remover helps to keep off the malicious spyware to protect your PC and enhances good performance and speed up your PC.Continue to : Different Types of Viruses
Boot Sector VirusBrowser HijackerDirect Action VirusFile Infector VirusMacro VirusMultipartite VirusPolymorphic VirusResident VirusWeb Scripting VirusTrojan horse
INFECTED LAPTOP TO REBUILD LEARN
Knowing how to rebuild your laptop if it's been infected with a virus may save you the cost of professional help. A virus is a program that infiltrates your computer and replicates itself. Removing a virus is a relatively easy process and takes less than a minute. There are dozens of free antivirus programs on the Web that are capable of removing a virus.
Instructions
- 1Download and install Webroot Spy Sweeper, Malwarebytes or the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool (see Resources).
- 2Double-click the icon of your newly installed anitivirus program.
- 3 Click "Perform Full Scan."
- 4 Left-click "Remove Selected" to completely delete the virus from your computer.
- 5 Restart your laptop. Your laptop should no longer be infected.
- 1
Internet Virus Protection Repair
Help
With: Internet Virus Protection Repair
Important
issues regarding Internet Virus Protection Repair: Computer errors occur when
your operating system becomes filled with junk and important files get removed
or corrupted. These types of problems are the consequence of not properly
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Diagnose
Internet Virus Protection Repair Issues
|
DESCRIPTION
|
VERSION
|
ESTIMATED
DOWNLOAD TIME |
|
|
(Install speedy pc pro optimization tool)
|
Current as of
(May 24, 2012) |
56k -> 9m
512k < 1m |
Important
(depending on your browser settings): when prompted, click "Save" to
save the installer to your computer or "Run" to save and begin the
installation process. Once installed use the FREE SCAN to search for system
deficiencies and Internet Virus Protection Repair related issues. (Note: some
advanced computer issues may require additional technical assistance)
Fix
System Errors
Many computer problems start in the Windows
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When there are too many programs operating
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Remove
Viruses and Malware
Viruses, spyware, adware, keyloggers,
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Repair Many PC Problems with
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Instead of having to buy many software
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Privacy Scanner
Finds
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numbers, banking info, passwords and Internet browsing history.
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Optimizes
memory by rearranging storage so that parts of the same file are all saved in
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Finds
the programs you need to open a wide variety of file extensions, including
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Gets rid
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Malware Remover
Scans
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Registry Cleaner
Fixes
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Performance Problem
Finder
Locates
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Disables
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Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and other browsers.
·
Restore Point Manager
Create
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to free up disk space.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
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