Think your PC is infected

 

You and everyone for that matter will become more concerned about the viruses or any other problem in the computer when the performance of it has gone down. Few symptoms will be missing files, corrupted files or the system becomes very slow. This can be due to a virus or a hardware problem.

 

Best possible solution will be to consult your IT expert at this point. But if no such person is there in the ranks, there are some things you can do by your own.

 

You will need to use antivirus software to protect your computer and avoid viruses.

 

Execute the Malicious Software Removal Tool

 

All the viruses, worms and Trojan horses are altogether considered as malicious software. They will disturb the condition of the system. Windows malicious removal tool is an integrated part in the windows operating system and it comes free. It will detect most common malware programs and disable them.

 

It is better to run the tool once in a while even if there is no danger of a virus. It will check the memory and all other storing devices for infections. If found the tool will repair them back or delete the infected files. It will even reverse the actions taken by malware programs. It will give a report after the scan.

 

It is possible to run the tool online also. Otherwise you can download it and install it to your computer. Update files will be available in every second Tuesday of each month.

 

Keep updating and scanning

 

Malicious software removal tool can detect some well known viruses only. It will not catch many other viruses in the world. That is why it is pretty important to have an anti virus software running as well. Anti virus software can detect many more viruses affected.

 

Just having an anti virus software is also no use. It should be updated with the most recent virus definitions. This can be done online by going to the vendor`s web site. If internet is not available, you can download from another computer and bring it.

 

Another very important point to remember while running the virus scan is to disable the system restore feature in windows. System restore will have a backup of some files in a specific folder to restore them back later when required. This backup files might be infected once. Therefore it is better to stop backing up to restore folder when running the scan. This can be done by right clicking on the “my computer” icon and then select “properties”. Select “system restore” from there and check the box for “turn off system restore for all drives”.

 

When running the scan there might be files that cannot be cleaned. They have to be either quarantined or deleted. It is important to scan all the removable drives as well for viruses.

 

Some more ways

 

There are some other methods also to diagnose the virus infections on a computer.

• Use another anti virus program

Sometimes the specific virus will not be detected by the virus scanner you are using. It may be due to the unavailability of the update definition. In order to eliminate this it will be better to use another scanner. Some anti virus programs can be even run online.

• Keep track of network activities

Some virus attacks tend to do activities over the internet. These types of attacks can be identified by keeping a track of network activities. Windows XP enables the user to get notifications while the data is transferred over the internet. This can be enabled by adjusting the settings in network connections in control panel.

 

If it is suspected or diagnosed for any virus attack, the computer has to be disconnected from the internet and local area network. Otherwise it will spread more. Then it can be cleaned by a virus scanner or can be restored to an earlier created restore point.