Antivirus 2008(9) got your pc Infected? This may be why…
Eau Claire Wisconsin Real Estate Agent
After reading Brad’s article on how his family’s network of pcs was infected over the weekend I found it highly coincidental but extremely pertinent. What I have noticed after repairing, fixing and working on around well over 100 family members and friends computers over the years and I having done this professionally, is that the majority of computer issues stem from a few basic problems.
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Windows is hardly ever updated. Most people do not understand the dire consequences of this and either don’t know how or just assume that it is automatic. The first thing I do is have it set to automatically download and instruct people to manually install the updates every time a new one comes along but inevitably they never heed my advice and when they call me in 6 months I come to find the same exact problem.
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They have no antivirus, they have let the subscription run out and not sought another solution, or have not updated it. Often I install a new AV program and do several full sweeps to ensure that the computer is entirely free of viruses but often it is too late at this point. Once a massive infection has spread system stability is inevitable. What happens is that files are overwritten or changed for the virus to perform its duties and even if they are “cleaned up” which generally means they are erased, well they are no longer there. There is a quick and dirty fix to this which involves downloading and reinstalling the latest Service Pack if one is available. I would consider this a very advanced technique not that its hard to do but its hard to find a Service Pack that you can download on the side in a lone installer package. Instead, normally I recommend a full format of the hard drive and then reinstall windows. Normally if I am lucky I got save the data but the data itself is often corrupt and then you run the risk of infecting your new machine with old, infected data. If you first install the OS (operating system IE Windows) then install an antivirus program immediately, you can problem save your data and some headaches. One thing to mention is if you have multiple hard drives its probably best to not have them installed until the primary c: disk is secure. Then bring the other drives online.
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Often performance problems are a combination of the above. While security is a major reason to upgrade windows often performance enhancements are included in the packages. Even simple driver updates can fix some issues. Degradation of the system can occur simply by using it and sometimes an infection that goes unnoticed is the true culprit. Above all it is recommended that even if you are an expert Windows user you should do a full reinstall of the OS once per year. You will see a major performance increase each time you do this. Sure its a pain in the you know what but it does fix problems. It also teaches you the importance of backing up data and forces you into a mind set of always keeping track of your data.
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Sometimes a simple solution is just running a good defragmentation program. I recommend perfect disc. It certainly wont fix every problem but it will help and ensure your disc is speedy. Do not fall for the trap of any other speed up or system speed ups. These programs do not work. They are complete bologna. They are often riddled with viruses of their own with the intention of getting you to buy another program to uninstall the program that it installed in the first place! Does that sound familiar to you? Its exactly how that antivirus 2008 and 2009 operates because for years people have been tricked into purchasing these sorts of programs! If your computer ever suddenly gives you pop ups or warns you to install a program to fix the problem you have an infection!!! There is no AV program in the world that operates like these false programs do. I repeat never install any program that promises to speed up your internet connection or speed up any other part of your computer the only thing that can get your computer to its original speed is reinstalling Windows and the only thing that can make the internet faster is calling your ISP and asking for a faster connection. The only thing that can make your computer run faster is purchasing faster hardware IE upgrading the memory, processor, or faster Hard drives.
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Install a software firewall. Even if you are behind a router, which at this point most people consider to be great protection and if you don’t have one get one, but even so it will not protect from a virus communicating out! What a software firewall can do if properly implemented is basically neuter the virus and prevent it from executing its job. The point of most viruses is to turn your computer into a bot to become part of a larger botnet. If you don’t know what that is go to the link I am sure you will be shocked. The new virus that Brad was infected with is designed to join up with a botnet. In turn they will infect other people. Trojans are often designed to communicate out and connect to the botnet and if you sever this connection I have seen them basically neutralized. You still want them off your computer but at that point they are basically harmless. One sign that you are infected with something like this is if you see an excessive amount of popup ads on sites that normally don’t have them.
There is a lot to keeping a system running smoothly and ensuring it runs well. The simplest thing you can do is what I have mentioned here and for the most part you should be safe. Having all your programs update regularly is the key. If you don’t like waiting for them to do that then schedule them at night and do not turn off your computer or it will not update!!! I always here after much prodding that the truth was that the computer “always seems like it needs an update and I just got sick of the messages so I just click on them until they go away” Well if that sounds like you then you know who to blame. The only reason why these viruses are so widespread is because of people like that. For the most part they aren’t even that powerful they just rely on the fact that everyone in the computer industry knows that 95% of people who own computers don’t update them or have any protection!
Brad– Here is an interesting article that was just released today that probably explains how your computer might have been infected.
I have to agree with the article that perhaps its time to force updates because people are just unwilling to do whats necessary to keep their computers updated. They will spend hundreds of dollars fixing them and days waiting for them to be fixed but wont spend a few seconds a day to do the necessary steps to prevent it from occurring. I am not saying thats the case with you. Some viruses are rather malicious and sometimes it takes months for the proper fix. But compare the article to what I said above and you can clearly see for the most part these things are preventable.
If you want 2 great, completely free security solutions try Comodo firewall and Avira antivirus. Another AV program I recommend is Eset Nod32. I do not recommend Mcafee, Symantec (norton) or any of the other usual players. For being the most popular they often offer the worst protection.
*Comodo recently upgraded and is now a combination firewall and AV program. I have not seen its protection rating as an AV program. For a firewall it was rated the best of any available as well as being free.
Here is a good comparison http://www.av-comparatives.org/
If you would like to work with an agent who is leading the way call 715-894-1001 today or send me an email.
