It's the time of the year when we have finished unwrapping our gifts, and are setting up our sparkling new computers. We plug our new computer into the internet and WHAM.  What was that?  The computer slows down and suddenly, you are getting ads and offers to purchase a virus remover.  Enter in your credit card number and the next thing you know, you're getting charges for purchases of iPads in China, computers in Russia and even items in places you cannot pronounce!  So what happened?

It’s a bright, shiny new year, but the reality of it is, you have been OWNED.  Another year and same old virus.  The truth is, some of these viruses that we are seeing in our own shop nowadays are much more destructive and can be such a pain in the okole, we want to throw up our own hands.  The thing about it is, you now have viruses that look like anti-viruses. They scan your hard drive and let you know you are infected.  Some of these look so real WE even have to do a double take!  They even have names like "Antivirus 2012" or "Super Cleaner 2012!"

The number one question we get asked is, "I have BLAH BLAH Antivirus and Antispyware.  Why did I get it?" 

Simple question right?  Its like saying, "I had my seatbelt on so why did I get into a car accident?"  Sometimes, it's due to things we can avoid.  Most of the time, we cannot control a thing about it. 

Known websites can be infected.  Some websites can be legit but they might be running ads that are infected, and just by being on the website, we get nailed.  I remember I went to website for a local news group and WHAM.  I thought, "Wait a second.  It had nothing to do with porn.  What happened there?" 

Sometimes, there is nothing that you could have done to prevent it.  What's important is what you do once you get infected. 

First thing to do is make sure all of your anti-whatever software is updated.  Then, yank out the internet connection.  If you are wireless, then disconnect.  Then you just go ahead and scan.  Open up your McAfee or Norton or Microsoft software and scan the computer.  Concurrently, you can go ahead and run your anti spyware anti malware software as well. 

If you are getting pop-ups more than some of the dancers on Dancing with the Stars, then and shut down your computer and try and restart it in safe mode.  Do you know how to do that?  Check out tips on our facebook page (www.facebook.com/cowabunga.computers ) on how to do this.  Run whatever applications you can and start cleaning up.

Whatever you do, don’t purchase a thing on the internet while you are infected.  You can have keyloggers (which record your keystrokes), you can have redirectors (which take you to a different website from where you want to go to),  a bad, bad thing if you try and purchase while infected.  While some of these viruses can take control of your computer very quickly, most of the time, if you recognize that you have been infected and work on it as fast as you can, it isn’t as bad.  But don’t delay.  Some of these viruses and malware will mess with your WINDOWS files, like your registry items and then it turns into an ugly thing.

How do you know when you are no longer infected?  Easy.  Computer speeds up again, no more annoying pop-ups.  If you are still stuck, then give us a call at 949-6888.  Love to help you out and mention that you are a Oceanic Time Warner Cable Customer and we will come out to you with a special price!

Don’t let this old trick ruin a new year.  Happy New Year!