A computer virus can wipe out everything you've worked hard for including your identity. We pay thousands of dollars a year in insurance to protect us, our home, our cars and even kids. But how many of us take the easy steps to protect all of those things by protecting our computer.
Things You’ll Need:
- Computer
- Internet Connection
- Patience
- Willingness to Learn
Step1 Realize how important your computer is! Remember that everything about you is probably on your computer. If you access your bank account online, pay bills online, buy things online, e-mail people, or download anything you are at risk. Should you stop using the Internet, of course not, just realize how much of your life could be exposed if you don’t protect it.
Step2
What happens if you get a virus! Some viruses are relatively harmless they just make pop-up ads appear and slow down your computer. Others can “hijack” your computer and use it for illegal activities like hacking, spamming, or even identity theft.
Step3
Learn how to use the Internet Safely! The internet is an unbelievable tool that can really make your life a lot easier especially if you use it safely. Make sure you not to download anything from any website you don’t know and trust. Do not open e-mail attachments from people you don’t know and be careful even if it is someone you know. If there computer was taken over they could send the virus to you. Don’t put disks or thumb drives into your computer if you not positive they won’t have viruses. Also not all “anti-virus” programs are safe make sure you research them(Google them and look for reviews). Some "anit-virus" programs are just basically viruses hidden in a nice package.
Step4
Just to make this sink home here is an example of what can happen. Jon was looking for a particular video of the newest RVs. He found one that looked good, but it wouldn’t display unless he downloaded an “Active X” file, this had happened before so he downloaded it. The video never worked and an hour later his internet speed plummeted. Anytime he went to any site it wouldn't load. He ran virus scan after virus scan and everything showed clean. He happened to use his laptop to check his bank account and it said his account was locked from failed password attempts. Now he was really scared so he started getting more virus programs and basically 3 days later for 4 additional “virus” programs he got it cleaned up. Meanwhile he lost not only potential money from being able to use his computer, but also all those hours of his life.
Step5
Prevention – OS Updates – One way to protect your computer is to make sure your
operating system has the latest updates. The manufacturer of the operating system should be sending out regular updates which include security updates. These try to fix any holes or security risks in the software, it’s very important to keep this up-to-date. It is your first line of defense. For detailed instructions check out the E-How article on Windows Updates listed below.
Step6
Prevention – Anti Virus – The next few steps will cover how to prevent viruses. You should have at least one Anti-Virus program (see the resources for a list of programs). Make sure you keep it up-to-date, new viruses come out every week. You also want to set it up to scan your computer once a week. If you’re familiar with computers you may even want to install two anti-virus programs since they may catch different viruses, although this can cause problems so only do this if your comfortable troubleshooting.
Step7
Prevention – Spyware – Some viruses are called spyware and they reside on your computer and may be used as key loggers, which track what you type-in on your keyboard in hopes of getting a password or other information. To prevent these there are some great tools like www.spybot.com and Spyware Blaster(see resources). Spybot locks down your registry(think of the registry as the backbone of your operating system) so that viruses don’t have a chance to latch onto your computer. However, this also means you will have to approve registry changes anytime you install new software. Spyware Blaster works well at preventing spyware, adware and hijackers.
Step8
Prevention – Adware – Some viruses are called adware these are the viruses that cause you’re computer to always have pop-up advertisements or may slow your connections because they re-direct you to a site of thier choice as opposed to the site you tried to reach. One of the best tools to prevent this is Ad-aware(see Resources) which will help you prevent and clean up any adware viruses.
Step9
Prevention – Maintenance – All the “virus” programs in the world are useless if you don’t keep them up to date and run scans regularly. When you install any of these I recommend that you setup an automatic scan for times when you won’t be normally using the computer. Remember that if your computer goes to Standby mode the scans won’t run.
Step10
If the worst happens – If you get a virus then the best resource especially if you have an additional computer that’s virus free is the internet. Do some searches for that virus if you know its name or by the symptoms you’re computer is showing (slow, re-direct different site, etc.). One hint is you can even search IP addresses if you need to. Check out these E-how articles on Cleaning Viruses and Clean Virus Manually(see resources).
