Types of Computer Viruses

 Types of Computer Viruses

There is no specific way to find out whether or not your computer has been infected. There are, however, common signs that you must watch out for. Common indications differ between viruses and can vary from mildly irritating to seriously disruptive. While some minimally affect your computer performance, some wipe out your system entirely. To avoid maximum damage, you must be wary of your computer’s unusual behavior. Most viruses can be cleaned or at least quarantined by your anti-virus software. However, there are some that even the latest security utilities cannot manage. In this case, removing viruses and worms have to be done manually.

Here are the recommended steps to follow upon suspicion of infection:

1) Disconnect it

If the infected computer is running on a network, disconnect it as soon as you can. Malicious codes, most especially worms, take advantage of network connections. Even if you only suspect that it might be infected, it is recommended that you physically disconnect the unit from the network at once in order to minimize damages.

2) Confirm it

There are instances when your computer shows signs of an infection but actually suffers from nothing more than a corrupt file or a system instability problem. There are also hoax programs designed to make you panic as reports that your computer is suffering from an infection yet you cannot seem to detect it when you run your anti-virus software. Many different hoaxes have been developed and it is important for you to confirm your suspicion of infection to conserve your time and efforts.

3) Report it

Make sure you inform all the other users in your network that your computer has been infected. This way, they are become wary of any unusual activity their computer may be displaying and they can protect themselves as well. If their computers are infected and they are not able to clean it, the malicious code will find its way back into your computer as soon as you connect it to the network again.

4) Scan it

It will be helpful to run a thorough virus scan on the infected computer so that you can find out how bad the damages are and take corrective action. Generally, you can tell if an infection report is not merely a false alarm when the malicious code is found in more than one file or that the file that is reported to be infected is slightly larger than it should be.

5) Clean it

If your anti-virus software cannot clean the infected files, you must manually remove them by deleting the files that are reported to be infected. Other means for more complicated problems are available on the internet.

After following these steps, you can restore damaged or deleted files from your back-up copies. Make sure that the infection has been removed from your computer by running another full virus scan. If the software reports that your computer is clean, you are ready to reconnect it to the network.