According to AVG, virus protection usually doesn?t detect adware or spyware both of which can wreak havoc on a computer. Thousands of people each day are infected with malicious programs! Worry no longer and stop feeling helpless because this guide is a basic computer virus repair guide that will help you identify and remove viruses and malware.

Are You Running Antivirus Software?

If you already have virus software perform an update for the latest version and then run a system scan. If you do not have such software, download a free copy of AVG virus protection at http://www.grisoft.com/doc/40/lng/us/tpl/tpl01. This will give you free real time virus protection, email scanning and virus removal tools.

Next, download and run Ad-Aware to remove spyware, adware, and other troublesome programs http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/. Then download SpyBot Search & Destroy http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html. By using Ad-Aware and SpyBot you will have excellent protection against files that are often missed by virus protection.

To check for and eliminate browser hijackers, download and run CWShredder at http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html.

With the above programs simply run a scan and follow the prompts to remove any infected files or unwanted programs. Once that is done, upgrade your operating system, or download any needed patches, then reboot your computer.

These steps won?t solve every problem, but they will fix a large percentage of the things that cause your computer to act up.

If a user does not detect and remove spy ware from his
computer, all his files may get infected and it may stop
working. All his passwords, credit card numbers and other
personal information may be stolen before he can realize
what is going on. Once spyware has been removed, the
computer will run much faster. It is worth while you to
find and use the best spyware removal software available.

Features Of Good Spyware Removal Software
A few features to consider, while searching for spyware
removal software products, are:

* It should offer complete protection from spyware, key
loggers, remote acess Trojans (RATS), browser hijackers and
ad ware.
* A good spyware program will offer automatic updates, to
provide protection from the latest spy ware threats.
* The spyware product should offer technical support, so
you can call or e-mail someone, if you have a technical
problem.
* A good customer service back up also shows that the
manufacturer can be trusted to look after the needs of the
customer in the long run.

How Does It Work?

It is very difficult to find and remove spyware software
from a computer manually. Spyware protection software
detects and removes spyware and ad ware from your computer
automatically. It can also protect your computer from data
thieves, hackers, malicious e-mail and other threats.

There are many free spyware protection software products
available. These programs can be used to detect and remove
spyware and adware that is already present in your
computer. Many types of spyware, install themselves on your
computer again, after you have deleted them.

Free spyware removal programs can help you to assess the
problem. A permanent solution may be to get the best
spyware solution product available.
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Click to find a daily updated blog of articles and news
about spyware ! Get advice and information about how to
protect your computer from attack, and disinfect it.. Click
http://www.spyware-101.com/

Word Count = 420
Word Wrapped to 60 characters per line
URL: http://www.karathecomputertutor.com
Date of copyright: May 2005

The Difference Between Spyware and Viruses
by Kara Glover
kara3334@yahoo.com

Shin, a fictional character whose name means “faith” or “trust,” sits by his laptop in the living room of his home in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. He is busy at work for his boss, dictator Kim Jong-il. His job, to make sure some spyware gets into specific computers at the Pentagon so he can gain vital top secret information. He’s particularly interested now that the United States government suspects his country might soon conduct its first nuclear test.

With spyware surreptitiously installed on the computers, he could, for instance, engage in the practice of keylogging. In other words, our “trustworthy” Shin could tract the actual keys on the computer hit by the Pentagon officials. This would help him learn their passwords, the content of email messages, encryption keys, or other means to bypass security measures at our nation’s defense fortress. Shin’s not interested in crashing computers at the Pentagon or making them otherwise operable. That would be too overt and might reveal him. He’s simply after information.

There are other types of spyware, sometimes called “malware” because they don’t actually spy on your computer habits. They might instead just barrage you with annoying popups, for instance. Or they might give you a different home page that isn’t of your choosing, like one of an advertiser’s. But for the moment those types of malware, or adware as it’s sometimes called, aren’t very useful for Shin. He wants to use spyware that actually spies.

Over on another part of the globe in Turkey, a fictional terrorist sits with his own laptop in a suspected al Qaeda terrist cell. But he’s not out to infect computers with spyware. That’s child’s play. He’s out to bring the house down. This story is strictly hypothetical. But let’s say the terrorist wanted to disrupt the daily hubub at a major American corporation. He’d infect the computers with a virus!

The terrorist might try to attack the company’s vast network by inserting a worm into it. Worms reside in RAM, and travel from machine to machine and, unlike the classic viruses, they attack the computers themselves rather than individual files. Very disruptive. This type of virus could potentially make the computers inoperable.

Bring down the goings-on at a major corporation by spreading a worm through the computer network, and the terrorist could have a field day. But let’s hope not.

So to summarize, spyware often keeps track of your computer habits, and viruses are often out to disable computers in some way. Hence the difference.

?2005 by Kara Glover