where do viruses come from?
A virus is a program specifically made to either to cause harm to a computer system or to hijack its resources, steal data or both.
Viruses can infiltrate a computer system in 3x ways:
1. Internet browsing: simply doing web site surfing which are considered trusted as well as less reputable websites. These websites have hidden, hijacked, or disguised elements that when opened or accessed - install a virus or Trojan
2. Infected program: This could be a legitimite program that was infected by a third party or one disguised as another program available for free download on Internet. Very often they are spread via USB memory sticks shared between people
3. Email attachments are also a way to get a virus. These can be sent from strangers or mosts commonly from friends, family or coworkers who've already been infected with the virus. This virus will:
- Access the infected person's contact list
- Send copies of itself to everyone in that list via email
HOW TO GET RID OF A VIRUS OR TROJAN?
First of all it is paramount to identify how a virus or Trojan managed to penitrate through security boundary. When it is clear, then next step is to isolate infected computer from the rest of your business network. And the last step is to clean the infection.
QUICK MALWARE REMOVAL STEPS
The quickest and easiest way to perform malware removal is to identify infected systems and then format their disk repositories in order to clean all data on them. Lastly do a full restore from a good known backup.
There are 2x important checks to consider while using this approach:
- whether you have a tested backup for your infected infractructure
- whether time to restore is acceptable for business operations.
I one of these checks is not passed, you have to step on another malware removal pathway below.
THE LONG ROAD TO MALWARE REMOVAL
After identifying which systems were infected, follow steps below which are basic regardless of how big or small your infractructure is:
- Download Malwarebytes from http://www.malwarebytes.org. Install it, run a thorough scan. Remove anything it finds.
- If still infected, continue computer virus removal by removing any temp files in the temp folder of the Windows directory.
- Prevent programs from loading at boot. Since the virus can be loading itself into memory each time you boot, try disabling it from loading. Go to Start and type msconfig in the run box and hit OK. Look for the start-up tab and uncheck all boxes. Reboot.
- Next, visit eSet’s online virus scanner and run the scan from Internet Explorer at http://www.eset.com/online-scanner
- If it works, you can re-enable the start-up items using msconfig
- Immediately get all updates from Microsoft, your antivirus program, Flash, Adobe Reader, etc, as there is no telling what exploit was used to infect your machine
- If that fails, you simply must reinstall Windows
If the above is too complicated, just call us and we will guide you through a process in a friendly manner.
We can also assist in malware removal by coming on-site and do all dirty work followed by free I.T. Health Check
