24/03/11
Viruses and malware affect everyone, they're a pain and will cost you. The best way to combat this is to watch where you surf, surf in the gutter and you will become unstuck.
I'm not trying to tell you what you view on the web btw but preventative is always better than cure, so that's where we will start.
Make sure you have a valid anti-virus application, there are lots. The paid ones are generally better but there are free alternatives, there is always a lot of discussion on which is the best to which my response is that anyone can recieve a day 0 virus despite what they have installed on their machine, although some
do pick up more than others.
Anyway off to the free stuff.
Avira anti virus:
http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirusAvg anti virus
[http://free.avg.com/gb-en/homepageAvast anti virus
http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-downloadMicrosoft security essentials
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/Malware:
This is the stuff that infects your computer then promises a fix if you pay a fee ( for an example), most anti virus manufacturers disclaim against these claiming that they're not actually viruses, so you may not be protected against these sort of threats. They should but these sort of threats are a lot more prevelant and harder to keep up with and we can deal with these to some extent below.
Free stuff:
Malware bytes
http://www.malwarebytes.org/Superantispyware
http://superantispyware.com/My advice would be to have a valid anti virus app on your machine, if you got a free trial that's fine but it will expire !, this and malware bytes installed. If you have an anti-virus app and a malware app installed on your pc you will stand a much better chance of recovering your data should you get infected.
Just watch where you go, sites will say things like 'you need xxx player to view this, do you want to install' , once you click yes you're foooked.
Windows firewall is adequate a believe as firewalls go, everything can be done on there should you need to block stuff as can on a third party app like zone alarm.
Sometimes you will not find a resolution to your problem because spyware mutates all the time you may need a dedicated 1-2-1 solution.
Sites like
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ or
www.majorgeeks.com will be able to help you. It is hard to diagnose over a forum.
