subject: How To Fix Virus Problems? [print this page] A computer virus is a computer program that has the ability to create multiple copies of itself and infect computers. Malware, adware and spyware programs are also called viruses. But they cannot create copies of themselves. A true virus can spread through a network or internet. It can also spread through a removable medium such as a CD, DVD, floppy disk or USB drive.
Certain Trojan viruses create spyware inside computers. Spyware collects information about the user of the computer. Malicious spyware collects vital information such as usernames, passwords and credit card numbers. A Trojan virus allows hackers to access a computer without having to login. The hacker can then indulge in illegal activities such as sending spam and hacking into systems of financial institutions. These activities cannot be traced back to the hacker but will be traced to the user of the hacked computer.
How to fix the computer after a virus attack? There is a great number of viruses being spread through networks or the internet currently. Each of them works differently. It is a herculean task to manually search for them in the computer to delete them.
Download virus protection software that is of good quality and updated. There are two types of antivirus software manual and automatic. The manual ones are cheaper but very time consuming. The antivirus software should be updated with the latest versions to ensure that it has all the latest file definitions. After you have downloaded the antivirus software, let it run a thorough scan through your computer.
This should identify a few viruses, spyware, adware and any other less common forms of malicious files. Once complete the software will display automated recommendations on the best solution to deal with the threats. Your first choice would be to repair the files if possible. If the file cannot be repaired or is the virus file itself, it will be removed from the computer.
To detect viruses antivirus software has two common methods. The most common method of virus detection is to use a list of virus signature definitions. This is done by examining the content of the computers memory and the files stored on fixed or removable drives and comparing them against a database of known virus signatures. The drawback of this method is that users are only protected from viruses that pre-date their last virus definition update. The second detection method is to use a heuristic algorithm to find viruses based on common behaviors. This method has the ability to detect novel viruses that anti-virus security companies have yet to create a signature for.
Some anti-virus software are able to scan opened files in addition to sent and received e-mails "on the fly" in a similar manner. This is called on-access scanning. Anti-virus software does not alter the underlying capability of host software to transmit viruses. Users must update their software on a regular basis to patch security holes. Anti-virus software also needs to be regularly updated in order to identify the latest threats.
