PC Security Guide

If you are a person that knows a lot about computers then you will probably hear this said to you at least once a week. You may have family and friends that come to seek your computer guidance on how to fix these problems. An article such as this is a great resource to point them to just in case someone you know runs up against this problem again. If you are a person that doesn’t know a lot about the background systems in a computer and just knows how to operate certain programs then you have probably said this sentence a lot. Hopefully by the end of this article, we will have given you enough information so that you will be able to solve the problem yourself and also help you to prevent it in the future. So let’s get going and start giving you a few tips on how to solve this problem.

Do not be scared
The first thing that you have to remember about a virus is that even though the name sounds scary it is still just a normal computer program. It has the same one and zeros that the other programs on your computer have. The only difference between it and the others is that it is trying to damage your computer experience in some way. So when you are trying to fix this problem you have to start by having a cool head. Getting excited will make you miss obvious steps to get rid of the problem.

Running an antivirus program
The first thing that you want to try and do is to run an antivirus program on the machine. If you do not have one installed then now is the time to do so. It is a very bad idea to surf the web without an antivirus being active in the first place so make sure that you get one put on now. After it is downloaded, try to install it. If the software is able to install, run a full scan on your computer and see what pops up. We said try to install it because some viruses are so smart that they will stop the antivirus program from being installed on the computer. A virus like this is one of the worse ones that you can come across. If this is the case with you then we will have to go to the next step.

Now we get a little complicated
The next step is a little technical but you should be able to handle it. This next step involves downloading a live Linux boot disk and using it to scan the virus out of your computer. A live Linux CD is a disk with an operating system that doesn’t have to be installed on it. You just slide the disk in the CD player on your computer and it will run as soon as your computer boots up. Make sure that you read the instructions on the web site that you found the boot disk on so you will know how to run the scanner. A good live CD to try this with is Knoppix. Give these steps a try and if they still seem a little complicated now may be the time that you ask for help.

We have given you a few steps that you can take when it comes to securing your computer after a virus has attacked it. Try these first before you go to a professional and ask help.