Free Antivirus Scan

If you are looking to protect your PC but want to make sure that you are using a good product, why not take advantage of a free antivirus scan? There are two routes that you can take with this. Some companies allow a free scan of your computer but you will need to pay for the full antivirus product to remove any problems found. The second option is to download a free product that will also remove viruses.

The companies that allow a free antivirus scan include Bit Defender and Panda Security. Both of these companies have a good reputation in the field of creating computer security products. The reason they allow you to carry out a free scan is for you to get a feel for how simple their products are to use. The hope is that you then go on to buy the full product.

However, don't rely on this free scan for your antivirus protection. Although it is better then doing nothing, carrying out a scan is only the first step in protecting your PC. You really want a full working product available to you as soon as any virus is encountered on your machine. It is also better to have a product that provides 'real-time scanning'. With this feature, viruses are detected as soon as they try to get on your computer. This is better than waiting to find them on your next manual virus scan.

The second option is to use a totally free antivirus product. These can be downloaded for no charge and will both scan your computer and remove any problems that are found. AVG Antivirus is a program that falls into this category. It also provides some real time scanning ability.

Protecting your PC is a serious business. Using software that will provide a free antivirus scan is a great first step in protecting yourself. You will also need to decide what software to use to remove viruses and provide real time protection for your computer.

Learn more about free virus software by visting http://www.top-antivirus-software.com Can free antivirus programs be better than paid? The results are suprising.

NEXT MONTH THE TOPIC IS COMPUTER SOFTWARE, JUST WAIT OK.

TIPS TO PREVENT VIRUS ATTACK

Virus is the worst of malwares (rogue programs) that causes serious havoc to your computer system. A virus is self-replicating and affects computer hardware, software, and even the Operating System. Viruses are designed to replicate themselves and to elude detection from anti-virus software, so without a good antivirus software it might be impossible to dig them out of your computer system.

Computer virus is an executable program written with the intention of causing a wreck to your computer or network, and because viruses are programs, they are loaded into computer memory, executed and instruct the computer to perform the actions dictated by the virus.

A virus can instruct infected computer to re-write the virus onto other computers in the network thereby spreading the virus from one computer to the next. A virus payload may also delete files from hard drive, write itself to another program, or even spread across the internet through file attachments.

Virus may fall into one of these categories;

1) Parasitic - infects executable files or programs in the computer

2) Bootstrap sector - infect the boot sector of the hard disk where OS start-up files are stored on the first partition.

3) Data file - These types of viruses can open, manipulate and close data files, and are usually written in macro language. They mostly affect Microsoft Office Word document

4) Companion - this type of virus creates a program with same name as another program that already exist on the computer, tricking the computer to run the rogue program instead of the real program.

Protect yourself by backing up your computer regularly so that in case there is an infection you can restore your system from the back up. It is also important you have very reliable anti-virus software on your machine. Good anti-virus must self-updates its database from time to time so that it can prevent you from a new attack.

Stop wasting time and money, click here for best computer security softwares and tools. Testing and review have been done for you.

WHAT IS ADWARE ? IS IT DANGEROUS ?

Adware is another potential threat to your computer if you access the internet. Adware is free software that is installed onto your computer with your permission and can be in the form of software that is used to automatically fill in web forms. In exchange for carrying out this task the installed adware will track your internet activity and show you targeted advertisements. It should be noted that people who use adware have legally opted into this. This is usually done in the fine print of an end user license agreement that you must accept in order to download specific software applications.

Adware usually installs onto your computer along with a shareware or freeware application that you have downloaded. The purpose of adware is to generate revenue for the software developer and this is done by displaying web based advertisements. This can be in the form of pop up windows of banners.

Not all adware is bad and for most people it is just very annoying. So how can you stop this problem? The first thing you will need to do is to ensure adware removal from your computer is to install and adware remover. You can obtain free adware removal software but in some cases in order to successfully remove adware you may have to uninstall the program it came with. Your adware removal software will help to identify these programs. If you decide to purchase an adware remover a brief internet search will provide you with all the information you need on both paid adware remover software and free adware removal software.

In order to avoid the situation altogether make sure to read all end user license agreements before downloading any internet applications. This is probably the only 100% guaranteed way of removing adware and keeping it from being installed again.

We have made a research to find the best spyware and adware removal software. Find the results only on Stop Adware – Best Adware Removal Source. All about spyware and adware on LeanderNet - http://www.leandernet.com

4 Steps To Clean A Computer From A Virus

Having a virus on your computer can cause your
computer to slow down, install spy ware and ad ware, or let hackers
into your computer to steal your information. Knowing how to clean your
virus-infected computer is easy. Here are some tips to show you how.

As
soon as you think your computer might be infected you should disconnect
your computer from the Internet and any networks you computer might be
on. This is to ensure that the virus does not spread to other computers.

If
you have an anti-virus program installed make sure it is updated first
then run a full system scan. The anti-virus might not detect the virus
if the program is not updated.

Some anti-virus programs will
detect the virus, but will not be able to remove it. If that is the
case, you can get a different program by downloading it from a computer
that is not infected or you can go to your local computer store and get
a different one there.

Most anti-virus programs will ask you to
restart you computer after it is finished scanning. Once you restart
you computer run another scan to make sure that the virus is gone. When
you restart your computer make sure that it is still disconnected from
the Internet and other networks. Once you are sure that the virus is
gone, reconnect the computer.

The best way to combat against
viruses is to be cautious of programs and files you and other people
that use your computer download. Do not open any e-mail messages or
attachments you do not recognize. Get a good anti-virus program that is
updated frequently and run system scans regularly.

If you would like more information on how you can get rid of a computer Virus, check out: http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-get-rid-of-a-trojan-virus/

10 smart things to against brutal computer virus

Virus infection on your computer may cause a very serious damage and even loss on your business. You can just imagine it may wreck your system registry or your entire computer (with all your receivables data on it!) or all your HTML programs! It will come to total black out screen, it will not boot at all. But that is actually the worse scenario that may happen. Are you going to wait for this worse scenario in your life to happen? I guess NOT, right?

Here are the 10 smart ways that I personally do to protect my computers against viruses, malicious dialers and spywares.

(1)If you are using Windows XP, always turn on the firewall.

(2)Always run all necessary latest updates & service packs (all windows! including all your programs & software!---keep them updated)

(3)Run your anti-virus program everyday (some do it every week) There are many virus programs that you can get for free scanning.

(4)Run your anti-spyware/adaware once a week (I run Spybot Search & Destroy & Lavasoft Adware Personal --- they are shareware, meaning it’s free!). What I do is that, I run the Lavasoft Adware first, then run the Spybot Search and Destroy (I also run it with “immunize” tool). These two tools are always on top of my desktop for easy access.

(5)Turn on the pop-up blocker – this feature is available on Windows XP (you can see this under tools>Internet Options >Privacy>click Block Pop Ups. In addition to this, I also download another pop up blocker, the Google Toolbar. I find their pop up blocker the most effective in blocking pop ups.

(6)Never open mails that are suspicious to you or not known to you. If they are in your bulk mail, send it back to your provider as “spam”! I never enable my bulk mail. I automatically delete emails from my bulk mail.

(7)When using messenger (IM) services, be very careful with files being sent through instant messenger. Rather choose to have it emailed it to you. Most of email services now has virus check and clears it if the file has virus or not.

(8)Be very careful when downloading files or any programs from the internet, pay attention on the instructions while downloading it. Downloading may sometimes cause error on the system registry or the entire computer system (one example, my nephew got his computer badly infected with viruses because of heavy downloading of games and music! – I guess!)

(9)Be careful with files that come from a floppy disk or any other external storage when you open it in your CD ROM of floppy drive. You should know its source, or better yet, when you insert it, have it scanned with your anti-virus program before you open the files.

(10)Run defragmentation, disk clean up, registry scanner at least once a week. You can find defragmentation by simply pointing your mouse on drive C: (which is usually the hard disk main logical drive)> right click the mouse>click on properties>click on tools>click on defragment now!

There are so many shareware on the internet that you can get for free! (that is the reason it is a shareware!). Keeping your computer healthy can make you more productive (if you have a business!) or it will make you enjoy more surfing and browsing the internet!

THE 10 MOST DANGEROUS COMPUTER VIRUS

Every day new computer viruses are created to annoy us and to wreak havoc on our computer systems. Below are ten viruses currently cited as being the most prevalent in terms of being seen the most or in their ability to potentially cause damage. New viruses are created daily. This is by no means an all inclusive list. The best thing you can do is to remain vigilant, keep your anti-virus software updated, and stay aware of the current computer virus threats.

Virus: Trojan.Lodear
A Trojan horse that attempts to download remote files. It will inject a .dll file into the EXPLORER.EXE process causing system instability.

Virus: W32.Beagle.CO@mm
A mass-mailing worm that lowers security settings. It can delete security-related registry sub keys and may block access to security-related websites.

Virus: Backdoor.Zagaban
A Trojan horse that allows the compromised computer to be used as a covert proxy and which may degrade network performance.

Virus: W32/Netsky-P
A mass-mailing worm which spreads by emailing itself to addresses produced from files on the local drives.

Virus: W32/Mytob-GH
A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan for the Windows platform. Messages sent by this worm will have the subject chosen randomly from a list including titles such as: Notice of account limitation, Email Account Suspension, Security measures, Members Support, Important Notification.

Virus: W32/Mytob-EX
A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan similar in nature to W32-Mytob-GH. W32/Mytob-EX runs continuously in the background, providing a backdoor server which allows a remote intruder to gain access and control over the computer via IRC channels. This virus spreads by sending itself to email attachments harvested from your email addresses.

Virus: W32/Mytob-AS, Mytob-BE, Mytob-C, and Mytob-ER
This family of worm variations possesses similar characteristics in terms of what they can do. They are mass-mailing worms with backdoor functionality that can be controlled through the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. Additionally, they can spread through email and through various operating system vulnerabilities such as the LSASS (MS04-011).

Virus: Zafi-D
A mass mailing worm and a peer-to-peer worm which copies itself to the Windows system folder with the filename Norton Update.exe. It can then create a number of files in the Windows system folder with filenames consisting of 8 random characters and a DLL extension. W32/Zafi-D copies itself to folders with names containing share, upload, or music as ICQ 2005a new!.exe or winamp 5.7 new!.exe. W32/Zafi-D will also display a fake error message box with the caption "CRC: 04F6Bh" and the text "Error in packed file!".

Virus: W32/Netsky-D
A mass-mailing worm with IRC backdoor functionality which can also infect computers vulnerable to the LSASS (MS04-011) exploit.

Virus: W32/Zafi-B
A peer-to-peer (P2P) and email worm that will copy itself to the Windows system folder as a randomly named EXE file. This worm will test for the presence of an internet connection by attempting to connect to http://www.google.com or http://www.microsoft.com. A bilingual, worm with an attached Hungarian political text message box which translates to “We demand that the government accommodates the homeless, tightens up the penal code and VOTES FOR THE DEATH PENALTY to cut down the increasing crime. Jun. 2004, Pécs (SNAF Team)”