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By TechHubby Bert
So You've Got a Virus!
The membership of the Divas tends to be very outgoing
on the web, and is at high risk for virus, and trojan attack. Mail
lists allow viruses to spread rapidly, though most list servers are now
using some form of antivirus to clean messages that pass through their
servers. For those of you who are unsure, the difference between a
virus and a trojan is that while viruses tend to be mindless programs
of destruction or proliferation, a trojan is usually what is known as a
backdoor program that allows others access to data or control over your
machine. A trojan is frequently NOT recognized by antivirus programs
and therefore more difficult to recognize and harder to guard against.
The good news is that what is usually thought of as a Trojan, is, by
its definition, a form of spyware. There are lots of programs available
to fight this. Another good defense is to have a program like Zonealarm
that will alert you when a program tries to access the internet to send
out data, or make an unauthorized connection.
If your computer starts acting strangely and you are afraid you might
have a virus, the first thing to do is to save whatever you are working
on, and then physically remove your internet connection. This will help
stop it from spreading if you are infected. Next, BEFORE you reboot,
you need to run a virus scan, and spyware scan. Many viruses have
functions set to act on reboot, so the less you reboot, the better.
Obviously, if the computer freezes or becomes unusable, you may be
forced to reboot. Hopefully you will be able to determine the nature of
the virus and your antivirus program can recommend a course of action.
Most antivirus programs will provide links to sites where cleaner
programs are available. You may need to reconnect to the net for as
brief as possible a time to get the removal tool. Follow the directions
with the removal tool, and hopefully all will be well.
Please, if you think you have a
virus, do not email anyone asking for advice! It could be quite
embarrassing to infect your friends while trying to fix your machine.
Sometimes a phone call to have a friend look up information for you if
you do not have another computer can make things quite a bit easier.
Keep your virus protection up to date. Most commercial programs have a
subscription style update service. Do not let your protection go out of
date because your update service has lapsed. There are free programs
available, such as AVG (http://www.grisoft.com)
or House Call (http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/personal.htm).
Zonealarm is available at http://www.zonelabs.com.
If you have questions or comments, I will attempt to address them as
time permits or if you have an idea for future topics, please email me
at techhubby@divinediva.org.
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