How to remove tough Viruses

Earlier, I had published an article on staying safe from Viruses. But even while following all precautions, a Virus may still enter your PC. Fortunately, almost all the viruses will get repaired or deleted by scanning your PC with a good anti-virus software. But, there are certain viruses that cannot be removed by an anti-virus software. So, to remove such tough viruses, one can :

(Note : The anti-virus will give you the name of the virus, the name of the infected file & its directory when it informs you of its inability to remove the virus.) 

1. Scan the infected file with other anti-virus softwares :

Note down the name &  directory of the infected file. Then, scan that particular file/directory with another anti-virus program. This should most probably remove the virus. If not, then,

 

2. Search for the virus' removal tool :

There are many such viruses which the anti-virus programs cannot remove. For some of these viruses, specially designed removal tools are created & are available in various places on the Web. 

To search for a removal tool, 

1) Open your favourite search engine & search for the tool by using the following syntax : " 'Virus Name' removal tool" (without quotes) where 'Virus name' be replaced by the name of the virus. 

ii) Then, from the list of search results, visit a result that you find more relevant. 

iii) The resulting page will provide a download of the removal tool. Thus, downlad the removal tool & follow its instructions properly to remove the virus.

If you cannot find a tool, then

3. Revert your PC to a previous date :

Note : To use this technique, you will need to know the date when the virus infected the PC.

Note 2 : This option can only be used if the PC has System Restore enabled. And further, system restore is only available in Windows ME, XP & Vista.

By using the System Restore feature, you can revert your PC to a previous date. This will turn the PC into exactly how it was on a previous date, which will obviously remove the virus, undo all installations, data changes, etc. done between the current & reverting date. Thus, before reverting, make sure that you save all your important changed data to an external medium like CD, Pen drive, etc.

Then, to revert your PC to a previous date :

1. Start System Restore. (From Start --> All Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools --> System Restore )

2. Select the option 'Restore my computer to a previous time (XP) / Choose a different restore point (Vista) & click on Next.

3. Then, select the date to which you wish to revert your PC. (The date selected should be the earliest date before the date when the virus infected the PC)   

4. After this process, the virus should get removed.

Thus, these are some ways by which a tough virus can be removed. Good luck in the removal of your PC's virus!

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How to stay safe from Viruses

Viruses are one of the most common problems for the PC users. They are very troublesome since they can result in slowdowns, instability, crashes, data loss, etc. So, here are some basic tips on being secure from viruses :

1. Use a good anti-virus software : This is the preliminary step towards a virus-free PC. AVG & Avast! Home Edition are powerful free anti-virus programs. Both of them provide excellent virus protection for the PC user.

Note : DO NOT use more than 1 anti-virus at the same time. Since anti-viruses offer real-time protection, using more than 1 anti-virus will cause conflicts between them, resulting in crashes. slowdowns & loss of efficiency.

2. Keep your Virus definitions updated before a scan : Virus definitions contain information on viruses for the anti-virus software, including removal details. Since several new viruses are created daily, these definitions are regularly updated by the anti-virus companies. If you scan your PC using old definitions, new viruses will not be detected. Thus, we should keep our virus definitions updated before scanning the PC.

3. Scan your PC regularly : As a general rule, you should scan your PC once a month (with updated virus definitions, of course) to ensure that you are protected from virus infections.

4. Scan removable media before use : Removable media (Pen Drives, CDs, DVDs, Floppies, etc.) are very useful as they facilitate easy moving of data between different PCs. But sometimes, an infected file may get copied onto the removable media. This infection can then spread to the other PCs where it is inserted. Thus, one should always scan any new removable media before copying any of its files to our PC .

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Protect your Keystrokes

As you know, the Internet is used for several productive purposes these days. This includes the usage of credit cards for online purchasing, operating bank accounts through the Internet, etc. Most of the sites that need bank or credit-card information use a strong 128-bit (or 256-bit, in some cases) encryption technique which protects the information entered into the site from unauthorized use by outsiders. But, there are still some sites which do not use such a technique. Thus, the information entered in such sites can be exploited. Hackers can misuse such sensitive information to withdraw money from our bank account & credit card or to use your e-mail account.

In addition to this, there are certain spywares which track your keystrokes & send it to unscrupulous websites. Keystrokes means the buttons pressed on the keyboard. Thus, information like passwords entered are included in keystrokes. Thus, such websites can make use of your personal accounts for their purpose. Though most spywares can be removed by use of anti-spyware softwares, some spywares may still remain on the PC.

Thus, it becomes highly essential to protect your keystrokes. This can be done by encrypting your keystrokes at the moment when they are entered. A powerful keystroke encryption extension for Mozilla Firefox is KeyScrambler. It is highly recommended to use it.

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Beware of unsolicited e-mails

The modern e-mail technology is very useful for quick & efficient communication. But like many things on the Internet, it has its disadvantages too, as viruses & spywares can make their way into our PC through e-mail attachments. So, one must be wary when dealing with E-mails. Here are a few tips to be secure while checking e-mails :

1) Do not open attached files sent by unknown sources. They may contain viruses & spywares.

2) Do not visit links sent by unknown sources. The website linked to it may be unscrupulous.

3) As far as possible, do not open attached application files (Files that have the extension *.exe ie., Files that end with .exe)If it is sent by an unknown person, then do not even think about opening them. This is because viruses usually come in an application file.

4) Do not give your credit card info, passwords, etc through e-mails to unknown persons. And also note that banks & E-mail account providers will generally never ask you for such information via e-mail. The e-mail might have been sent by hackers who may use the information for their own use.

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Analyze the EULA of softwares to make sure that the software is secure

Whenever we try to install a software, we are given an EULA (End user License Agreement) to read. We can only install the software if we agree to the agreement. Now, this agreement is usually very big. That is why, many PC users tend to skip this & directly install the software. Unscrupulous softwares mention their shady intents in the EULA. Therefore, it is important to take care if such intents are mentioned in the EULA or not. Since reading the EULA is a long & tedious task, it is advisable to use an EULA analyzing software to check the EULA.

EULAlyzer is an effective software which analyzes any EULA & gives us a list of suspect items, if any, in it. We can then decide whether or not to install the software. Its basic version is free. To analyze an EULA :

1) Whenever you come across an EULA, Select the complete EULA by dragging the pointer from the first letter of the EULA to the last, right-click on the selected text & click on Copy.
2) Open EULAlyzer.
3) Click on Analyze on the left hand side menu, or from the 'Scan new license agreement' link below the 'EULAlyzer scan' area.
4) Right click on the blank area below the License Agreement area & click on Paste.
5) Click on Analyze.
6) The EULA will then be analyzed & a list of suspect items will be given to you.

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Protect your PC from Spywares

Spywares are little tools which spy over the activities of the user on the PC & send this information to various third-party sites & companies. Through this, they can collect important confidential information like passwords & credit card information too. They can also disrupt the PC performance. Therefore, one has to maintain adequate security for the removal of spywares & shielding the PC from them.

In addition to maintaining the internet security, it is essential to have a powerful spyware removal tool too. Spybot Search & Destroy is a very good spyware removal tool. Download it from the given link. After installation, open the program. It has a very simple user interface. To scan the computer for spyware :

(Click on the image to enlarge it)

1) Click on the 'Check for Problems' button.

(Click on the image to enlarge it)

2) Spybot will then start scanning your computer for spyware.

(Click on the image to enlarge it)

3) After the scan finishes, click on 'Fix selected Problems' to remove all the problems.
Note : All the problems will be checked by default. If you don't wish to remove a particular problem, uncheck it. You can also click on any problem to see its details.

(Click on the image to enlarge it)

And, To immunize the computer from many bad products, click on the Immunize tab on the left hand side. Then, click on Immunize.

Alternatively, you can also use Ad-Aware to remove spyware from your computer.

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Browse the Internet safely

Use a Firewall : A firewall is a software that forbids unauthorized access to & from your computer through the Internet. It is one of the first security precautions that you should follow. I would recommend you to use ZoneAlarm which is a free, powerful yet simple tool (Download it from here) It is a very popular & effective firewall. It automatically blocks unauthorized access to your computer by outsiders. Also, whenever a software tries to access the Internet, ZoneAlarm asks us whether or to allow it to use the Internet or not.

Use Mozilla Firefox : One of the most important precaution while browsing the net is to use a secure internet browser. Mozilla Firefox is a quick, free & powerful internet browser. It is considered as one of the most secure browsers on the Internet.

Use the NoScript extension with Mozilla Firefox : Install the NoScript extension for Firefox from the link. Whenever a website is visited, it blocks all Flash & Java files (which can contain spyware) from running through Firefox & a 'Scripts currently disabled' message appears. We can also specify certain sites to be allowed Flash & Java content. For this, visit the particular site. Then, click on Options on the right hand side of the 'Scripts currently disabled' message, & then click on Allow 'Website name' .

Use McAfee Site Advisor : McAfee Site Advisor is a very good free software through which we can know whether the site that we are visiting is safe or not. Download it from the given link. Whenever a site is visited, the McAfee Site Advisor tab at the bottom of the screen shows either a red, yellow or green colour representing a dangerous, neutral or safe site respectively. On clicking on the tab, a webpage from the Site Advisor website loads showing the safety details of the site. Thus, it is a very useful tool.

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