All About Computer Viruses

What is a computer virus, anyway? The term "computer virus" is just loosely used to include all kinds of things.

An actual computer virus is a computer program designed to infect a computer and reproduce itself. A true virus can spread to other computers by infecting files through the network, e-mail or other means. With so many of us nowadays creating networks for our homes and offices, a virus can easily infect all of the computers in your home or business.

Many viruses attach themselves to legitimate programs. Some may be unnoticed by the user while others cause major issues for computer users. Some viruses avoid detection using all kinds of deceptive practices and can even fool anti-virus programs.

Just like human viruses, computer viruses can even mutate or change which makes detection even more difficult. 

What damage can a computer virus really cause? Well, considering a virus is actually a software program, they can do almost anything imaginable. 

Some deliberately damage important files or even delete files. Some send a record of all of your passwords out to a recipient who intends to steal people's identities. Some even erase entire hard drives!

Unfortunately, many people have viruses in their computers and don't even know it. Some find out, but only once it is much too late and they've lost important data, irreplaceable photos or even sensitive information.

What kinds of symptoms would my computer show if it had a virus? There can be so many symptoms. For instance, the computer runs slow. The computer crashes by locking up or just freezing. Your computer has spontaneous restarts. Some programs don't work correctly anymore or they just stop responding. Disks or disk drives are inaccessible. You can't print at all or things come out printed incorrectly. You may see strange or unusual error messages. You could see distorted graphics, menus and dialog boxes. Some of your files have double extensions. (For example if you see - ProgramName.png.dll) 

Maybe an antivirus program is disabled or will no longer start or an antivirus program can't even be installed on the computer. New icons or programs appear that you don't recall putting there or installing. Strange sounds or music play from the speakers out of the blue. A program you installed disappeared. You notice your hard disk space has dwindled down significantly. Your e-mail contacts report e-mails that you never sent. The computer doesn't start at all. You notice intruders on your network. Windows wont even start or tells you there are important files missing. Maybe the computer only half-starts and there are no desktop icons or items are missing from a toolbar.

The computer takes a long time to start. You receive out-of-memory error messages even though the computer has a decent amount of memory. A disk utility such as Scandisk reports that you've got disk errors. The computer just stops responding when you try to use certain programs. You can't start your Windows Task Manager. Perhaps your antivirus software indicates that a computer virus is present.

What should I do if I suspect an infection? Disconnect your machine from your network RIGHT AWAY and call an expert in virus removal immediately! Virus removal is very tricky business and if not taken care of properly it can lead to more severe infections and many other problems, including the loss of your important data or even identity theft.

Call us today at 724-343-6065 and we'll not only eliminate all of your computer viruses, we'll help you to prevent them from ever coming back in the future!