June 19, 2013

Posts Comments

PC Tools Free Antivirus

January 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Downloading free antivirus software has always been a cheap, easy way to protect your computer from dangerous malware. Unfortunately, many hackers have caught on to this trend and created their own fake antivirus software. The fake software is commonly referred to as rogue security software. These rogue programs do much more harm than good. Knowing how to spot them, however, increases the odds that you will choose a legitimate antivirus program for your computer.

Detecting Fake Antivirus Software

Fake antivirus programs often use similar schemes to trick users into installing them and paying for fraudulent services. MS Antivirus, for instance, which has also gone by the name Spyware Protect 2009, tricks users by reporting to have found several viruses on the computer. The viruses, however, do not exist. The fake antivirus software then encourages the user to purchase a full version of the program to eradicate the viruses. Of course, since the viruses did not exist in the first place, users pay for absolutely nothing.

The fake antivirus program SpySheriff also uses false positives to encourage users to pay money for advanced services. It’s a common ruse.

If you have downloaded free software that requests your credit card number or other personal information, then chances are that you have found a piece of rogue security software.

A Useful Alternative

With so many fraudulent antivirus programs on the Internet, it’s hard to trust one over the rest. Luckily, PC Tools Free Antivirus has proven itself as a safe, effective tool for preventing and eliminating troublesome malware. Not only does it do the job well, but it never asks for any personal information (including your credit card number). After all, why should a company that makes free software ever need your credit card information? When they request those numbers, you know that they want to charge something to your account. Since PC Tools Free Antivirus doesn’t do this, you know that you are safe.

Filed Under: Hardware, Malware, Networks Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Different Types of Computer Virus

November 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Ask any computer user that has been affected by a computer virus, and they will tell you they are extremely annoying! Computer viruses can affect all aspects of your computer, from the hardware to the programs that are stored on it. There are a number of different computer viruses that can affect your computer and it is important to know what they do in order to combat them.

One time of virus is called a resident virus. This is a program that affects your computer’s internal RAM, taking yup valuable space. The virus causes the computer to slow down and can affect its performance. The virus can also affect any program that the computer may be running by corrupting necessary files.

Direct action viruses are also a common problem. These bugs require a certain set of actions to be carried out and once the user has completed them, the virus goes to work and spreads through the computer. These viruses are usually very nasty and can often completely render a computer useless, stripping it of its most basic functionality and processes.

Another type of virus is called the overwrite virus. This particular bug stands true to its name and affects the user by wiping files or overwriting them with different data. It is normally quite difficult to replace files that have been affected by these bugs and the files usually have to be rewritten completely from scratch, which can take up time.

Boot viruses are also a common problem. They live in the part of the computer that manages how the machine starts up and changes many of its processes. The machine then has difficulty starting up in its normal way and the user gets an interrupted and awkward end experience.

Filed Under: Malware, Security

Spotting a Computer Virus in Your Email

November 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment
An email box folder littered with spam messages.
Image via Wikipedia

Getting a virus on your computer can be an annoying and time consumer experience. There are many malicious forms of virus that can be contracted on your computer which can damage everything from the hard drive to your computers functionality. One way that your computer can become infected with a virus is via your emails. Spammers can send deadly attachments to your email box that become active when you open the email. There are a number of things you can do to minimize the risk of this happening.

Probably the most important piece of advice when it comes to dealing with computer viruses is DON’T OPEN EMAIL ATTACHMENTS FROM PEOPLE YOU DON’T KNOW! This is the most obvious way you can be sure of not contracting a virus. However, some attachments can spread a virus without you knowing, so you should even exercise caution when opening things that your friends have sent you.

Another key point to remember is that you should always read the title of any email you get before you open it. Most emails that pose a security risk often give themselves away. For example, if you get an email from somebody in Nigerian telling you you have won a cash prize that you haven’t even entered, you can be sure that it has a virus attached! Dodgy email addresses are also a telltale sign of computer viruses and addresses with lots of number of additional letters should be avoided.

You can also set up a redirect on most email accounts that sends emails of a dubious nature directly into a spam folder. You can check the folder if you want, although it might be better to introduced a setting that automatically empties it every so often. You can also use anti-virus software to help you keep your email inbox clean.

Filed Under: Malware, Security Tagged With:

Getting rid of Trojan Horses

October 29, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Trojan horses can be awkward viruses to get rid of. These bugs are programs that install themselves on your computer and pretend to be performing a task that is beneficial, such as scanning for viruses. In actuality, they are secretly adding a number of harmful pieces of software onto your machine (which is where the name comes from). They can be difficult to remove, but there are a few things you can do if you want to get them off your computer.

The first thing to do is to scan your computer with a program called AVG. This is a free anti virus software that can locate and destroy Trojan horses without the use of other programs. Occasionally however, it may come across a Trojan horse that it cannot cope with and you will need to take further steps. If AVG cannot remove the bugs by itself, it will move them to a location called the ‘virus vault’ for you.

Another program called TrendMicro Housecall is also a good one to use. It is effective in finding Trojan horses that AVG may have missed and can usually delete some of the larger viruses for you. It is also a browser rather than a downloadable program, which means it is less likely to be corrupted.

There may still be some programs on your computer that the anti virus softwares were unable to remove. Write down the details of them such as file names and where they are stored and attempt to remove them manually. If all of the other options have failed, you will have to reformat your hard drive in order to remove all the bugs completely. This is really a last resort scenario, but it is worth doing as having Trojans lying around on your computer may lead to your personal information being stolen.

Filed Under: Malware Tagged With:

How do Computer Viruses Spread?

October 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Computer viruses are a major problem for everybody online. They can quickly cause devastation to PCs around the world. One of the reasons why they are so problematic is that they can be spread very quickly. It is helpful to know about how computer viruses are spread in order to combat them.

A virus must be activated on a network or PC in order to become dangerous. This can happen in a number of ways, such as by opening an attachment. When it is opened, the virus searches for programs or functions that it has been programmed to infect. Once it has located its objective it reproduces itself within the program and transmits itself to other areas of the computer, as well as other computers in the network.

There are four main types of computer virus that can be spread throughout systems and networks. Program viruses are infected via software on the computer and can spread when the infected program is copied onto another system. A boot sector virus is a bug that is contracted via the computer’s floppy disk. Every time a disk is used in the corrupted drive, it becomes infected and spreads the bug to additional machines. There are also macro viruses, which are built into certain documents on popular programs like Microsoft Excel or Outlook. The virus carries out its procedure when the document is opened and spread it to other pieces on work in the software. Finally there is the classic email form of virus. Bugs are attached to emails and are sent to people, often with the email offering fabulous prizes so that the recipients open them. Once the files are opened, the viruses become active and attack the computer.

The best ways to avoid contracting a virus are to make sure you do not open emails from people you don’t know. Anti virus software is also crucial.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Malware Tagged With: