[[How to]] GET RID OF VIRUSES on your computer!:) PICTURES!

[S.O.S.Star]

How to get rid of viruses on your computer

Do YOU think you have a virus?You might if:
-Lengths of programs shorten/lengthen
-If you notice that photos time stamps have changed
-If your computer clock changed (This does not include Daylight Savings Time)
-If it takes longer to load programs
-Everything takes longer to open/close
-Pictures you KNOW you had saved are suddenly dissapearing
-You have less memory space when you haven't saved anything extra
-You have gotten weird error messages that either don't attend to what you were doing
-Your screen Blacks out/whites out
-Your screen turns blue
-Your screen flashes, our is out-of the ordinary
-your screensaver/wallpaper changes
-Programs fail unexpectedly
-Programs fail in the middle of loading, then your computer crashes
-You can't boot up your comp.
-Your system fails when you try to boot up.
-Unusual Files are suddenly on your computer
-random/unusual pop-ups occur
-Your whole computer is slow
-Your homepage on your internet changes by itself
-Voices are coming from your comp.
-The CDrom opens on its own
-The CDrom runs slowly OR shuts down suddenly
-Your comp stops responding or locks up/freezes

Common Computer Viruses:
-3 basic types you will probobly encounter-
-Trojan Horses
-Email Viruses
-Worms

--Trojan Horses--
(Giddy up, YEE HAW!)
A Trojan Horse virus looks like an interesting computer file or program, enticing you to click on it. Trojans even pretend to be name brand antivirus programs! One trojan, commonly found, presents itself as a respectable computer anti-virus program, warning you you have viruses; DON'T CLICK ON IT, it activates the trojan. A Trojan virus, once on your computer, does not reproduce itself and infect itself to other files, INSTEAD it makes your computer more sucseptible to intruders who can read your files, or a least access them.(invasion of privacy, much ) To prevent Trojans, avoid downloading files or programs from sites, unless you are exactly 110% that it is not malicious in anyway and is a respectable site.

EXAMPLES:

(See how they entice you to click "OK" or to "take action?"...DON'T)

--Email Viruses--
(You've got...a virus?)
This type of virus is extremely common, and a lot of new viruses are found in email. Some are really terrible, so it is best to try and stay away from opening emails you are uncertain who they are from, or forwarded messages from computers who you KNOW have viruses. Email viruses can automatically forward itself t many people in your adress book/whoever you send the email to. To also avoid Email Viruses, AVOID OPENING ATTACHMENTS and intall a spam filter/blocker.

EXAMPLE:

(See that it didn't adress this person by name? It's a fake email...Otherwise known as a VIRUS!)

--Worms--
(yuck! It's a computer BUG! )
Worms usually spread through security flaws or computer networks. To avoid these, make sure you have all security patches up to date and clean, also, they like to spread through emails, so avoid forwarding! They scan networks for loopholes and flaws to spread more. They quicker you notice you have a worm, the better.

EXAMPLES:

(Very Legitament looking...VERY sneaky.)

Getting rid of a virus:

(I cannot post pics for this, as many people have different programs)

-Make sure your virus protection program is up to date, install any new updates
-Open your program
-Run a FULL SCAN
-Clean and get rid of any viruses that pop up
-Run another FULL SCAN to make sure the problem is gone

-I also Recommend going to this website for a free virus removing program, found ALL of my problems:
Malwarebytes.org
Download the free version, and run it! Worked like a charm for me!
**DOWNLOAD IT IN SAFE MODE**
-to put your comp in safe mode, shut it down, then BEFORE it starts loading windows, when the computer screen is still dark, press F8. It should bring up a menu. Press "Safe Mode with Network" then your comp will run in safe mode.

I hope my guide helped everyone out there! I hope your computer is clean in no time!
--Star

*CREDIT GOES TO:
Polarity
TTGTTG
Google Search Engine
Wiki Answers
Yahoo Answers
The Dictionary*

(P.S. I hope you don't take it the wrong way, but It took me a while to find out all the search engines and resources I used! Sorry for the wait for the update!)

[Cheerleader98]

Great job Star!!

REP!!!

[JINGLES139]

I'll have to try this later. Thanks for posting.

[RetroBean]

Oh my goodness! Thank you! I'd just downloaded some sort of digital editing software from a site that looked fairly safe (I'm so relaxed about these things; I should be more careful). After I downloaded it my computer was being pretty buggy and it kept saying "Trojan Horse" on the anti-virus pop-up. It was horrible, because I had no idea what it was, and this totally helped me get rid of it.

Thanks so much. Rep!

[S.O.S.Star]

You are so welcome! I am glad to be of assistance!

[jorking]

Thanks for the guide, I'm pretty sure I won't get one because Macs are pretty hard to get viruses. Now It'll be even harder.

[S.O.S.Star]

It sure will! Glad I could help!

[HueyK]

Nice job! My bro runs his own business for computer building repair and virus cleansing or whatever,so I knew a bit of this already.But still,this is cool! Great job.I think I got a Trojan horse once.It was in a game we had called Empiresawn of the modern world. It was a cd tough,so I wonder how it got there? Anyway,it's gone now,so no worries

[Lyssa45]

Thanks for this! recently, my Family's regular computer completely crashed because it had a Trojan (I think) and it was COMPLETELY useless until we fixed it which took some time...then in that process, my laptop sort of had the same thing! (All my family members were using my laptop because the regular computer was down which caused it to crash also!) Haha..dumb viruses!

~Alyssa

[i_like_pie]

Wow awesome guide, it helped me a lot. Rep+5 stars