Wow, the buggah is out there!

In the past almost two years I have been writing articles, I wrote about viruses more than a few times but this year, it seems like they are coming back stronger and hitting a lot more people.  There is not a day that goes by in our office when we get computers infected with spyware or viruses.  We have viruses that look and smell like a WINDOWS solution asking for a download but guess what, it isn’t!  So before we go into what we can actually do, lets try and take a look at some of the truths and myths about viruses, computers and how we can all get along!

1. I have a MAC computer.  Can I get a virus?
a. Uh.  Yeah.  You can.  Some of the newer APPLE operating systems are built off of a UNIX platform and since they is more secure, you wont get nearly as much.  But remember, if you are running a WINDOWS emulator (like in parallel or virtual PC), you can get a WINDOWS based virus as well.

2. I didn’t go to a porn site.  How did I get it?
a. A lot of times, hackers will go and infect any website.  As recently as 6 months ago, a national news website was hacked and a ton of users got infected.  Local new agencies get tainted too and by going to that website, you just got nailed. 

3. I don’t open email attachments or pics.  How did I get it?
a. For some users of OUTLOOK and OUTLOOK Express, there is a preview pane.  If you don’t have your security adjusted properly and updated, merely previewing the email will taint your PC.  Make sure that your MS office software is always updated!  A lot of these security holes have already been addressed by Microsoft but you would be surprised who hasn’t updated yet!

4. I got a virus!  Should I be worried about my pictures or emails?
a. Not really.  Most.. MOST of the viruses now days don’t go after that kind of personal information.  Looking more for online surfing habits, trying to redirect you to another website or try and get you to purchase software etc.  They generally don’t care about the time you went to the beach and took a picture of that good looking girl lying there.  More than that, you should be more concerned about if you recently made purchases online!  Check your bank statements.

5. But I have XXXX brand antivirus.  How did I still get infected? 

a. I must say this speech about 10 times a week.  When you get sick, you go to the doctor and they give you cold medicine and you get well from there.  Just having ibuprofen in the medicine cabinet doesn’t mean you wont get a headache.  Ahhhhh!!!  Make sense?  Having antivirus solution is awesome.  Having antispyware solution is also awesome.  But its what you do AFTER you get infected.  Like anything, make sure it is updated properly, and clean em out.  Keep reading and I tell you how.

So now we know something a little bit better about viruses.  We know that they are the creepy crawleys and generally, more a pain in the butt than anything.  (By the way, I have been saying viruses in this whole article but some of the tech savy ones will argue on the definition of a virus and they are right.  for the sake of this article, lets call em viruses and this includes spyware, malware etc). 

How do we know you are infected?

1. Pop ups on the computers
2. Suddenly gets slower
3. Cannot type in a website address and when you do, you go to some other website.
4. Noise!  Listen to your harddrive and if you are doing nothing and you hear it spinning big time, then a virus could be trying to access data.
5. Check your security software and see if you can update.  (make sure the subscription is valid first).
6. Check your ADD/REMOVE Programs and see if there are any applications in there you don’t remember putting.
7. You get this strange pop up saying you are infected and it looks nothing like the security software that you already use!  
8. Weird things happen!  The kind of things that make you think the ghost in your hallway came back.  CD/DVD trays start opening, printer starts printing pages of nothing.  Relax, don’t call your Pastor..yet!  It could be a virus.  
9. You get a security letter or phone call from our friends at RoadRunner telling you that you are sending out SPAM.  Uhh.. yeah… pretty obvious but…
10. Some unknown scan starts up when you turn on the computer and it looks like nothing you ran before.

Once you are really infected, then you can do a few basic things before calling us up for an appointment. 

1. See if you can get into WINDOWS.  
2. Check the validity of your subscription
3. Update the security software that you are currently running.  
4. Check your proxy settings and make sure your connection to the internet hasn’t been compromised.
5. Run your security software and make sure it is a full scan!
6. Reboot your pc and try and login.
7. Get a registry cleaner like ccleaner and clean out the junk and the rest of the temp files in your PC to.
8. Reboot your PC.  
9. Check your bank statements.  There is stuff out there that looks and breathes like a Microsoft product but believe me, it isn’t.  They want 50 bucks to clean out your computer but at the same time, you aren’t doing yourselves any favors.  Cancel your card and get a replacement.  
10. The trick to this is acting fast.  The second you think you got something, take it off the internet (remove your connection) and run a scan.  After the initial scan, reboot your PC, put the connection back online, update your security software and scan again. 

 

Remember, just because you paid for an security solution or have a free one doesn’t mean you wont get infected.  Just remember to take simple steps.  Everyone will get infected one way or another.  Its not IF you get infected but a question of when. 

There are a ton of freebie software solutions out there that I will publish and talk about at the end of the year.  So pay attention and until then, Happy Surfing!