Pinellas Computer Club
A Free Community of Residents, Non-Profits and Small Businesses.
| I think I have a virus or spyware |
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The first thing is don't panic. Most infections can be cleaned rather
easily and if not, it's not usually expensive either. The second thing
is to get protected. Keeping your system updated and protected is much
easier than cleaning it after infection.
Of course, don't type any credit cards or other personal data until it's confirmed clean. Keep it disconnected from the internet as much as possible while cleaning. The most common thing that viruses and other bad-guys do is to open a "backdoor" to the internet where some evil hacker is waiting to take control of your machine and watch everything you do. They usually then use your computer to attack others, so even if you don't care about security, clean it and keep it clean for the rest of us. Watch out for fake or junk scanner/cleaners. Believe it or not, a lot of the programs out there that claim to clean your system will actually infect it! Use only a trusted program. We know of many very good ones, so ask us! Install a good anti-virus program (ask us for one) and run a full system scan. Make sure the scanner is set to check every file, not just "executables" or "infectables". Repeat the full system scan until you get TWO completely clean results in a row. You should run the anti-virus all the time for continuous protection. Install a good anti-spyware program (ask us) and do the same. Run a full system scan checking for everything. Once is usually enough. Constant spyware protection (ask us) is not usually necessary, however if your system is used by children or the public, you may need it. If either scanner is unable to heal/clean/remove any item, ask us for help. If the system is not running properly after a full cleaning, ask us for help as Windows may be damaged. Equally important as having scanner/cleaners is Windows Updates. You MUST have all the relevant security updates installed or nothing else will matter. There is no way to secure an outdated system.
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Welcome
