Signs and Symptoms of a Computer Virus or Spyware
There are so many different kinds of viruses, trojans, spyware, and adware they’re often all lumped together and just referred to as as malware (malicious software). By the end of 2009 experts predict that there will over a million malware programs trying to disrupt your computing experience and steal your personal information.
The sad reality is that most people don’t use effective virus protection or follow my 11 steps to protect their computers from viruses and other malware. Not only are most computers at risk but, until someone’s computer actually gets infected by malware, they don’t even think about it.
If you’re one of those people one day you’ll probably experience one or more of the following signs and symptoms of computer malware:
1. Lots of annoying pop-up advertisements.
2. Dialog boxes popping up telling you that you have a virus or other problems.
3. New toolbars on your internet browser.
4. Your internet Home Page has changed.
5. New Favorites in your browser that you didn’t put there.
6. Your computer has slowed down or even crashes and restarts on its own.
7. Programs not working or files not opening.
If you ever get a pop-up window telling you that your computer has a virus or registry problem and telling you to buy some program to fix the problem, DON’T! 99% of these are viruses, trojans and adware just trying to sell you software that will just make things worse. All they want is your money.
This is exactly what you need to do if you’re experiencing any of the signs/symptoms above:
1. Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. (Save it to your desktop)
2. Close all programs and windows on your PC, including your web browser.
3. Rename the downloaded mbam-setup.exe file to mb.exe to help work around certain malware that will block it from being run.
4. On your Desktop double-click mb.exe to install the removal program. Leave the default settings.
5. Update the program if asked and begin the Quick Scan.
6. After it’s finished running click the Remove Selected button.
7. When finished you can close the program.
If you’re still experiencing problems, run an online scan at Eset.com.
To keep from getting infected in the future, follow my 11 steps to computer security.
Happy Computing!
-Bert
October 29th, 2008 at 11:20 am
I agree that Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is the way to go. I had several viruses that were all cleaned up (or so I thought) by running AVG scan, Spybot Search & Destroy scan and Ad-Aware scan, but “local disk: c” was missing from “my computer”. “local disk: c” didn’t make it’s re-appearance until after I ran the Malwarebytes scan. Wonderful free program!
December 18th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
cool website :D I’m very glad I wandered here through my friend’s blog, oing to definitely need to add another one to the morning routine
September 27th, 2011 at 8:44 am
its not a bad idea about the Anti Malware.its a nice free programme.same spirit always