Protect Your Digital Life!
Current Internet Protection Is Essential!
Computer viruses tend to grab our attention. On the one hand, viruses show us how vulnerable we are. A properly engineered virus can have an amazing effect on the worldwide Internet.
A computer virus - is a computer program written to alter the way a computer operates, without the permission or knowledge of the user, by hiding in other program files. Though the term is commonly used to refer to a range of malware, a true virus must do these two things:
replicate itself
execute itself
What to Do If Your Computer Is Infected
Sometimes even an experienced user will not realise that a computer is infected with a virus. This is because viruses can hide among regular files, or camoflage themselves as standard files. This section contains a detailed discussion of the symptoms of virus infection, how to recover data after a virus attack and how to prevent data from being corrupted by malware.
Symptoms of infection
There are a number of symptoms which indicate that your computer has been infected. If you notice “strange things” happening to your computer, namely:
– unexpected messages or images are suddenly displayed
– unusual sounds or music played at random
– your CD-ROM drive mysteriously opens and closes
– programs suddenly start on your computer
– you receive notification from your firewall that some applications have attempted to connect to the Internet, although you did not initiate this, then it is very likely that your computer has been infected by a virus
Additionally, there are some typical symptoms which indicate that your computer has been infected via email:
your friends mention that they have received messages from your address which you know you did not send
your mailbox contains a lot of messages without a sender’s e-mail address or message header
These problems, however, may not be caused by viruses. For example, infected messages that are supposedly coming from your address can actually be sent from a different computer.
There is a range of secondary symptoms which indicate that your computer may be infected:
- your computer freezes frequently or encounters errors
- your computer slows down when programs are started
- the operating system is unable to load
- files and folders have been deleted or their content has changed
- your hard drive is accessed too often (the light on your main unit flashes rapidly)
- Microsoft Internet Explorer freezes or functions erratically e.g. you cannot close the application window
- 90% of the time the symptoms listed above indicate a hardware or software problem. Although such symptoms are unlikely to be caused by a virus, you should – use your antivirus software to scan your computer fully.
How To Avoid Infection:
Do not download unknown files or files from unknown sources. Do not click links in emails from unknown or suspicious sources. Scan all downloaded files with an McAfee® sacnning software before running them. Ensure your computer has all critical updates from Microsoft Windows Update.
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