Computer Virus Definition: 5 Signs You Have One
by NFL sunday games ~ March 5th, 2010. Filed under: On Your Computer.
If your computer has been running slow or just not performing as well as it did when you first purchased it, you owe it to yourself to find out the cause of your problem. One possibility is that have a computer virus. Viruses can wreak havoc on your computer’s performance, and it is important that you know what you are up against. Here is a “computer virus” definition, along with 5 signs you have one.
What a Virus Is:
A computer virus is a program that can copy itself and spread across one or more computers when they are connected to a network without the knowledge of the user. Viruses can be particularly tricky to remove from your computer because they can self-modify or change over time as they copy themselves.
Fortunately, viruses can only spread across multiple computers if an uninfected computer is connected to a network, or if the computer gets connected to infected media such as a USB drive or a CD.
Do you suspect your computer might be infected with a virus? Look for these tell-tale signs:
1. Computer is running more slowly than usual:
If your computer runs slowly upon start-up, you may have a virus. Common signs are having to wait a long time to perform simple tasks such as checking e-mail or opening files. In really serious cases, your mouse pointer may even lag as it moves across the screen.
2. Locks up or crashes frequently:
Does your computer frequently just stop working or otherwise lock up, causing you to have to restart your computer? This phenomenon is also called freezing or freezing up. If your computer locks up often and/or suddenly, a virus could be the culprit.
3. You cannot access your disks:
If you are having trouble accessing your internal hard drives or external disk drives, your computer may have a virus. For example, if you click on your directory and cannot gain access to your disks, this is a tell-tale sign you may have a virus.
4. You cannot print items correctly:
Printer performance an also be affected by the presence of a virus. For example, if your printers are not accessible or if the printing results are not satisfactory, this could be a sign of a virus at work.
5. Your anti-virus software is disabled for no apparent reason:
Most computers ship with anti-virus software pre-installed. The best anti-virus products should be more than sufficient in keeping your computer protected. However, you know you have a serious problem if your anti-virus software itself seems to be repeatedly disabled upon start-up or when you try to run a virus scan. The most dangerous viruses can actually try to block your anti-virus software from working properly (for obvious reasons), which effectively renders your computer open to all potential invaders.
Viruses are not the only things that can cause performance problems for your computer. Other common causes are malware, adware, spyware, and registry problems. If your computer is not performing properly, you should explore all possibilities, including these other common causes of degraded performance.
Robbie T. James
http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/computer-virus-definition-5-signs-you-have-one-734643.html
March 5th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Can "Crashing" the computer get rid of Malware?
Me and Amalia need help, Amalia has Vista Antispyware 2010 in her computer. Her mom has a degree in computer programming but isnt as good as she used to be. She plans to get rid of the virus by "Crashing" the computer, her definition of "Crashin" the computer is reseting the computer all together, where the computer is like brand new and all your files are gone. Will that really get rid of the Malware???
She has iTunes and she scared of loosing all her music (What do we do?)
We looked up how to take out the virus on bleepingcomputer the thing is we don’t have another computer available but the guest account on her computer is not showing signs of infection from Vista Antispyware 2010, if we download the antispyware on the guest account into a external storage devixe (ex: Flash drive) and installed it on the infected account would we be successful in getting rid of the spyware?
March 5th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Yes. It is best to crash your computer when the infected file is open. Just to be safe, open all the files on your computer, then, hit the power button. This should remove the malware forever.
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Worked for me.
March 5th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
i guess crashing it mean format or system restore from disks or parition on your hard drive. either way, you will lose all but the system. if bleeping has a fix and they are good there. boot your computer into safemode networking, then download the fix. also download malwarebytes update it and run. turn off system restore, the windows one. you will loose all points but makes no diff now. turn it on when yer clean.
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March 5th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
First, ignore that answer two slots up from this. Opening lots of files on your computer won’t do anything good and could do something very bad.
Second, backing up your friend’s files to a flash drive or CD or DVD is a good idea.
Third, ANYTHING is better than "crashing" your computer. (It’s usually called "formatting" or "doing a System Recovery".) Your installation plan might work, but from what I’ve seen here on Y!A, Antispyware 2010 seems to be a pretty tricky piece of malware. I suggest you try installing the anti-malware (and fighting the malware, too) in Safe Mode With Networking.
Another trick that may enable anti-malware and/or its installer to sneak past the malware is to change the name of the anti-malware program itself. The names of the files and their locations differ between anti-malware programs, but the procedure is always the same:
1.In Windows Explorer, find the folder with the anti-malware.
2.Change the name of the program (it always ends with a .exe) to virtually anything else, but keep the “.exe” part.
3.Run that.
Also, turn off System Restore to evict any copies of bad stuff that might be lurking there.
To get into Safe Mode with Networking:
1.Log out and reboot your machine.
2.When the machine starts the reboot sequence, press the F8 key repeatedly.
3.Select Safe Mode with Networking from the resulting menu.
4.Login. If the malware has changed your password, try logging in as Administrator. By default, Administrator has no password.
5.The machine will continue booting, but the Windows desktop will look different.
6.When you’re finished doing what you need to do, log out and reboot back into normal mode.
Good luck.
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March 5th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
If by "Crashin" she means reinstalling Windows, that means that everything is gonna be wiped out of your hard drive and Windows will be freshly installed at factory settings. So you would loose all your personal files and the software that you installed like iTunes.
That’s completely unnecessary to do and if by "Crashin" she does mean crashing Windows that’s just risking on corrupting Windows and you’ll be forced to reinstall Windows and loose all your personal files like your music and photos for example.
Download and Install Malwarebytes, Avira, and SUPERantispyware. Avira is an antivirus, Malwarebytes is an antimalware, and SUPERantispyware is for what Malwarebytes or Avira might miss.
That’ll get rid of what you have and forget what your friend’s mom said.
Avira: http://download.cnet.com/Avira-AntiVir-Personal-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10322935.html
Malwarebytes: http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html
SUPERantispyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/
You could also try BitDefender Online Scanner.
BitDefender Online Scanner: http://www.bitdefender.com/scanner/online/free.html
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March 5th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
if your computer is now infected with viruses and/or spyware.
You should use an antivirus program and antispyware software.
Here you have more information on computer security, as well as good and free programs that you can download into your computer:
http://spyware-chk.com
All are safe and can be trusted and you can download one.
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