2.
Introduction.
Threats to watch out for.
Signs that you are corrupted.
How to bar them if you have been corrupted.
How not to get corrupted in your every day
access to the pc.
Conclusion.
How to keep your computer running smoothly.
3. INDEX
If you own a computer that has access to the
Internet and e-mail, then it is certain that you will
be a victim to malicious
spyware, malware, viruses, worms, or hackers.
Every day thousands of users report problems
with their computer and are wasting money
trying to fix the issue not knowing that they can
do it alone, safely and freely.
The information in this Guide will not only
educate you as to why you are experiencing these
problems, but also what you have to do in order
to avoid experiencing these problems.
5. INDEX
Spyware is Internet jargon for hidden programs
advertisers install on your PC without your
permission to spy on you, gather information, and
report this information about you and your online
activities to some outside person.
Spyware is not harmless, it can be responsible for
delivering a boatload of spam, altering your web
browser, slowing down your PC, and serving up a
bounty of pop-up ads. In some of the more
extreme cases, spyware can also steal your
identity, passwords, e-mail address book, and
even use your PC for illegal activities.
6. INDEX
Malware is short for malicious software and represents all
programs, viruses, Trojans, and worms that have malicious
intent to damage or disrupt a system. Malware is harder to
remove and will fight back when you try to clean it from
your system. In some extreme cases, you will have to
completely wipe out all the information on the computers
hard disk and re-install the operating system.
Among other things, a malware infection can corrupt your
files, alter or delete data, distribute confidential information
such as bank accounts, credit cards, and other personal
data, disable hardware, prevent you from using your
computer, and cause a hard drive to crash.
Frequently, malware is also designed to send itself from
your e-mail account to all the friends and colleagues in your
address book without your knowledge or consent.
7. INDEX
Hackers are computer programmers turned evil.
They are the people who design the spyware and
malware programs that attack your computer.
Some of them have criminal intent and use these
programs to steal money from individuals and
companies. Some have a grudge against the big
software vendors (like Microsoft) and seek to harm
them by attacking their customers (you). Others do
it purely for fun. Whatever the reason, hackers are
getting more intelligent and sophisticated in their
ability to access computer systems and networks.
8. INDEX
You are starting to get swamped with pop-up ads
that come from nowhere and continiously
interrupt your use of the computer.
Your computer is unstable, sluggish, locks up,
crashes or deletes files on its own frequently.
Your web browser’s home page changes on its
own and you cannot modify the settings. Also you
might see some toolbars that you never installed.
Mysterious files suddenly appear.
A second or a third we browser is popping up
when u open your browser instantly and you can’t
prevent it.
10. INDEX
There are thousands of different programs out there in
the anti-spyware/malware/virus, many of which are
free. The most important thing to remember is that
these programs will not find and remove the same
viruses and not of them are 100% sure to delete all of
them.
Imagine yourself scanning your computer and finding
viruses, then you try and remove them with your antivirus program. But your computer is still suffering
from them and you are forced to scan with another
program, which enables you to find more of them.
However, you do not want to stack tons of virus
removal programs on top of each other. Doing so can
actually throw off effectiveness. One good antivirus
scanner should be enough.
11.
12.
System restores are a good way to get rid of light malware
and spyware programs. They require no downloading of
any software and can be performed directly by Windows.
System restores work best if you catch the intrusion right
away. But, you do not want to do a system restore if you
believe that you have had malware, spyware, or viruses on
your computer for any significant amount of time.
This could cause you to lose files, applications, or data. To
do a system restore in Windows, navigate to the control
panel using the path Start > Control Panel. Click
the Recovery icon located within the Control Panel and hit
the Open System Restore button on the next screen.
The rest of the process is very straightforward as the
Windows Wizard will guide your through it.
INDEX
13.
14.
A clean install is not the most fun thing to do.
However, a clean install is the one guaranteed way
to get rid of viruses, spyware, and malware. It’s
simple… when you do a clean install, you are
deleting everything on your hard drive. Thus, no
more viruses.
Most of the time, viruses will not infect items like
pictures, text documents, videos, or MP3 files. If
step 2 (scan), is not working for you, more than
likely the virus is in your computer’s registry. This
is good because you can backup all of your
pictures, documents, etc… before doing the clean
install. That way you will not lose anything
important.
INDEX
17. BACK
Keep an up-to-date anti-virus software running
at all times.
This is one of the most if not THE most
important thing to do, because you will need it
to scan for viruses and be able to remove them.
18. BACK
PREVIOUS
Don’t use internet explorer anymore.
Just recently, hackers have figured out a way to
access and download malicious programs to
your computer by using a security hole in
Internet Explorer. What is extraordinary about
this is that you don’t even have to click on
anything or download a program to get
infected. You are especially vulnerable if you
have an older version of Windows such as
Windows 98.
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PREVIOUS
Don't allow your web browser to
automatically run programs, such as MS Word
or other programs through its e-mail program.
Configure it to launch other programs such as
NotePad or WordPad instead. This way the
macro virus won’t spread on your computer.
Therefore it is something you definitely want
to do.
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Stop using peer to peer file sharing and don’t
ever download programs that look nice.
Think of it like cyber candy. Hackers use these
cute and funny programs as bait in order to get
you to download their destructive programs.
These are guaranteed ways of getting hit by
malicious viruses, spyware, and malware.
Also, peer to peer file sharing sites are mine
fields of malicious programs. Don’t ever think
of accessing those sites or download the
programs that runs them.
22. INDEX
All in all computer viruses are a very common
enemy on our every day life but we can
prevent them from reaching us or remove them
if we have already been corrupted.
There are many different things we can do
about it but the core procedure is in this
guide, but if what is written here doesn’t work
for you then the best thing you can do before
asking an expert is search in the
internet, because there you can find all the
answers you need.
24. BACK
Do a clean up every month.
This is very important, because there are many
files that fill your hard disk and if they become
superfluous then they will slow down your
computer.
26. BACK
PREVIOUS
Uninstall the programs you don’t use.
It is just silly to keep programs you don’t use in
your computer because they fill your hard
drive and make your computer slower.
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Delete cookies from the browsers.
Clear your cache after you sign off. These files
are just unnecessary, take up memory, and can
allow spyware to invade your computer.
28. BACK
PREVIOUS
Format.
If nothing else works you should really
consider formating your computer, but before
you do it make sure you have already backed
up your files.
