About Viruses
What is a computer virus?
- A computer virus is a hidden piece of software within a PC which actively tries to copy itself to other PCs without your knowledge.
Most viruses are received from emails, as infected PCs send copies of itself to other email address it can find.
Types of viruses
- Trojan - Allows secret remote access to your computer
- Spyware - Gathers personal information and/or credit information
- Malware - Secretly sends emails to 1000s of people
- Adware - Random advertising popups
Note that most viruses are more than one type and usually has trojan like functions.
Computers which have virus(s) running within them often appear to slow down and sometimes cause your system to crash. Some viruses deliberately attempt to destroy your computer by deleting system files, sometimes only at a specific pre-programmed date, or just after it has successfully copied itself to other computers.
How to remove viruses
The easiest method is to remove a virus is to install anti-virus software. Once installed, you then need to do a complete system scan by using the anti-virus control panel, which can take a couple of hours. The scan will search out any viruses and give you the option of how you want them removed.
Recommended free anti-virus software
Beware of fake "anti-virus" software. There are now 100s of fake anti-virus software which pretend to scan your system, but then usually asking for a registration fee to fix the number of fake issues. These fake software is actually a virus pretending to be a anti-virus! They cause real havoc with your system, often making your computer very unsecure. They usually disable any real anti-virus you had, disable the firewall, and blocking your attempts at installing real anti-virus software.
Best advice: Get your friendly family computer expert to get rid of it.
Check a file for viruses
Not all anti-virus software is able to identify all viruses. If you have downloaded a file or received a file that you would like to check then this service is highly recommended:
Phishing
Phishing is when you receive a fake email asking you to login. The email will direct you a web page that looks exactly like your normal login page, but is actually a copy, specifically made for them to capture your login details.
Information about how to report this can be found here:
