Keeping your PC clean from Virusses
1. Responsible downloading
- A lot of people enjoy downloading music (mp3) or movies. This is often done through software like Kazaa or other peer-to-peer software. It's good to know that you can easily get virusses through these systems. They simply give an infected file a name that a lot of people find interesting, and it will get downloaded. Even worse, the virus spreads easily because users offer the infected file for download too (often without realizing that it is infected).
- Also very popular are those "jokes" that are often sent through email. They are often powerpoint presentations (.ppt files) or visual-basic-script (.vbs) files. Even when the sender is a friend of yours, you can't trust that the file isn't infected.
When you open them, they often show something funny, but in the meantime your computer is infected.
- A lot of virusses are sent through email. Emails with an attachment are not to be trusted, especially if it is an email from somebody you don't know.
- You can also get a virus on your computer from visiting a website. This is no different from downloading an infected file. The website just sends you the file, often without your permission and even without any warning at all. This can often happen on high-traffic sites: social networking sites, surf-sites where the links that members submit aren't monitored thoroughly, ...
Lesson learned:
Avoid risky actions. If you really want to download and open these files, you better don't do it on a computer that has important data on it. And you better have a virus-scanner installed on that computer, because you are going to get virusses eventually.
2. Excellent online virus-scanner
(then click "Online scan")
Also good, if the above doesn't work for you: http://www.bitdefender.com/
* The major benefit of using an online scanner, is that you'll always use the latest list of known virusses to scan for.
* A major disadvantage is that it's sometimes difficult to get online when your computer is infected with virusses that mess up your internet connection. Therefore, it's always good to have a virus-scanner on your computer.
I don't use "offline" virus-scanners, so I don't have links for them. But you can search Google for these well-known, good virus-scanners:
- AVG antivir
- F-Prot
3. Spyware - Adware scanners
Spyware is software that gets installed on your computer without your consent. Often it is installed as a part of other software (like Kazaa), and sometimes (not always) they tell you in their user agreement (but nobody reads those user agreements).
Adware is very similar to spyware. You can consider it as the same thing, except Spyware references the fact that it sends private information from your computer to the malevolent company. Adware shows advertisements on your computer (windows suddenly popping up on your screen).
Both have 1 thing in common. They are often programmed very badly, and can easily interfere with other (legitimate) software on your computer. Besides the annoying ads, and privacy issues, they can mess up your computer badly.
There is not one software that detects them all, so you usually need several programs to remove everything. You'll usually be okay by using these 2 free spyware scanners:
Lavasoft Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Spybot Search&Destroy: http://www.safer-networking.org/nl/index.html
Extra tips
- A virus can only do harm when the infectious file is opened. Thus, it is important that you don't let your email client open attachments automatically.
- In Outlook Express, it is not recommended to have the emails shown automatically. That is when you have your subject lines in one pane, and the message text automatically loaded in a pane below. This is the default setting in Outlook Express, so it is best to turn that off through the options menu.
- While the word "Virus" sounds creepy, they are often not too dangerous. The biggest problem is however that beginning computer users don't know much about their computer. They don't know where they pick up virusses or adware frequently, they don't notice a "minor" infection on their computer. A lot of beginners don't even know where to find the files on their hard drive.
So they keep gathering more and more virusses, unknowingly, until the computer has so many problems that they have to call in help because their computer "doesn't work anymore". When somebody helps you fix your computer (sometimes paid), they don't teach you about the causes, and the cycle starts again until you'll have to call in help again.
Lesson learned: It's good to learn at least how to use these basic virus-scan and anti-spyware tools.
- Installing a virus-scanner on your computer, and having it running all the time, can slow down your computer considerably. So it is really good to pay attention to what you download. Personally, I don't have a virus-scanner on my computer. Sometimes I pick up a virus somewhere, but I usually notice it or I do an online scan from time to time.
- A lot of people have anti-virus software installed on their computer, but neglect to update the virus-list before every scan. The same is true for spyware-removers, they have to be updated before you use them. Some virus-scanners do automatic updates, but it is always good to make sure instead of relying on automatic features.
- Some (well-known) virus-scanners come with an integrated "Firewall" these days. While firewalls are usefull software, they are not really intended for beginners (who often don't even know what it does). These integrated firewalls cause more problems than they solve, for a lot of people. Nonetheless, anti-virus companies act like you really really need it (so they can squeeze more money out of you).
- I recently read an article that stated that it is become more standard that companies of you "automatic subscription renewals". You pay a subscription for access to their latest virus-list that their software needs to work efficiently. And when you payment expires, they automatically charge your credit card again. The article also stated that they try to hide this from you, because not everybody checks their credit card statements thoroughly. And they make it also difficult to cancel that subscription. A shameless practice that makes them a lot of extra money.
You can take my word for it that you don't need to pay anything for fighting virusses. All tools can be found online for free, and they work as well as anything paid. Most people I helped with virus-problems, had paid software on their computer!
Sincerely, Valleyken
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