By: Jay Stamford
Submitted: 2011-03-21 15:57:40 | Word Count: 496
With so much knowledge of virus and spyware removal I know first hand how difficult and impossible removing viruses can be. I have spent countless hours fighting, kicking and screaming at a computer screen in hopes of sending the virus to a violent cyber-death.
The system tool and the google redirect virus are examples of dangerous malware. However, my personal computer has never been infected with a virus. Therefore, I am writing a 'users-guide' to virus-free computing. There are many valuable sites out there who give the basic steps to staying clean but I am going to attempt to go one step further and explain some of the lesser-know techniques.
Before we get started lets ask the million-dollar question; "Why do people create viruses?"
There are many reasons why people create spyware and viruses. Traditionally, malware was written by college kids for 'bragging rights' or by disgruntled employees. Today, the majority of malware is written for financial gain. There are many ways in which a malware author can make money off of you or your computer. Their main source of income is using rogue Anti-Virus software to 'scare' the user into inputting their credit card in order to 'clean' their computer. This is a complete scam!
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What starts as a seemingly innocent warning about a virus on your machine quickly turns into numerous pop-ups and nag screens to the point that you can no longer use the computer. All the screens point you to 'registering' the software to get rid of all these viruses. Once you "register the software" the computer is still infected because the program asking to be registered is itself the virus.
The Basic Steps
Avoid All Peer-to-Peer Downloads - Peer-to-Peer networks include; Limewire, Bit-torrent, Frostwire, Gnutella, Kazaa and Bearshare. These file sharing networks are used to exchange files from one user to the other. Due to their high exposure and the fact that viruses can be easily disguised as legitimate files, peer-to-peer network are to be avoided at all costs. If you are only downloading music or movie files you are still EXTREMELY exposed to infections. Once I remove a virus from a computer and the computer has a peer-to-peer program installed, I also remove the peer-to-peer program. NEVER DOWNLOAD FROM PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS.
Make sure that you regularly update your Antivirus or antispyware software. Due to the fact that new virus threats are released so frequently I recommend using software that has automatic updates.
Keep Your System Updated - Keeping your computer's operating system up-to-date is extremely important. The 'bad guys' are always looking and finding new vulnerabilities in your computer therefore, it is absolutely vital that you install new updates as they are released. The steps to updating your system can be found here: Windows XP, Vista, Seven, Mac OS X.
