How do you prevent virus infection?
Many viruses arrive as email attachments and activate when you run them.
Be extremely wary of opening attachments from people you don't know especially if the attached file has a double file extension such as badvirus.gif.vbs.
You can also get viruses from people you know if their Address Book has been infected.

To prevent viruses:

• Don't open e-mail attachments (or even e-mails) from people you don't know. Delete them immediately.
• Get an Anti Virus program and keep it up to date.
• Run a virus check on any new files you place on your computer, especially if they are from file sharing web sites.

NOTE: if your computer has no anti virus program, it has no immune system.
It is at the mercy of ANY and EVERY computer virus in the world and there are many thousands of them.

How do you know if your computer has a virus?

• Follow the free Virus link on this page.
• If you have an Anti Virus program installed you should receive a warning.
• Someone may tell you that their Anti Virus program has detected a virus in an e-mail you sent them.
• Your e-mail program is sending out emails to people in your address book of its own accord.
• Your computer is behaving strangely for no apparent reason. If you find that your files are being corrupted for no apparent reason and programs are malfunctioning, it could be the work of a virus so conduct a thorough virus scan. to be sure.
• Some viruses aim to take out your anti virus software first, so if this starts to malfunction seek an immediate remedy such as utilising your anti virus application's rescue discs. One way to check if your anti virus software is still working is to initiate a manual scan and see if it obeys your instructions as it is supposed to do.

How do you check for a virus?

• Run your anti virus scanning program and click on the option that tells it to scan all files and folders. Your Anti virus program needs to recognise the virus first so keep it up to date on a weekly basis at least. The best of the anti virus software checks the Internet for updates on a hourly basis.
• Set up your anti virus program to automatically conduct regular virus scans.
• Follow the free link on this page.
• Another tip is to put your E-Mail address in your own Address Book and if you get a mail from yourself you probably have a virus.

How do you kill a virus?

• The most ruthless and time consuming way to eradicate a virus is to wipe your hard drive clean by formatting it. However there are some viruses that can hide from your formatting program, so specialised software may be needed. If the virus has spread to floppy disks etc., you'll need to wipe them clean as well. Wiping everything clean may be an effective method but you'll destroy all your data in the process!
• An easier way to kill a virus is to let your anti virus software do it for you. Once it has terminated its first virus, your anti virus program has been worth the money you paid for it.

How do you recover from a virus?

• Sometimes you may kill a virus but it may have already damaged some of your files and made unpleasant changes to your computer. If this is the case, you may need to re-install any programs that are malfunctioning.
• You may need to re-install or repair your Operating System and system Registry.
• Check the internet to see if there is a repair patch available for damage by that particular type of virus.
• It's unfortunate but true, that one of the best ways to recover from virus damage is to seek the skills of a professional. Such expertise does not come easy or cheap. You may find that having up to date anti virus software was a cheaper option.

NOTE: Beware of Restoring your computer to a Restore date before the virus was destroyed or it may be revived by your very own Restore software.

Summary:

• Purchase good anti virus software, keep it up to date and set it to do an automatic scan daily.
• Put your own e-mail address in your address book and keep an eye out for unprompted e-mails from yourself.
• Set up a protocol of initiating a manual virus scan on a weekly basis to ensure your anti virus is behaving itself.
• Check the Internet via Google etc for repair patches to any virus and worm damage.
• Keep regular backups of important data.
• Make regular Restore points and ALWAYS create one BEFORE loading in any new software.

IF YOU CAN NOT RECOVER FROM SERIOUS VIRUS DAMAGE
Contact Interface ICT Solutions and our engineers will solve your problems and repair the damage caused.
enq@interface-ict.com