Every now and then you may accidently cause some sort of harm to your computer. Downloading an unknown file or visiting particular websites may cause this. On the Internet today, it is nearly impossible to completely prevent the intrusion of all kinds of malware onto your computer. When the computer is infected, depending on the type of malware, the computer may be rendered completely redundant. Thankfully there are a few ways to try and remove the virus.

First you need to be familiar with the kinds of things that are harmful to your computer.

• Keylogger – A computer program that runs in a background and records every key you type. It then sends this information out to the person who infected you.
• Virus – Some sort of dangerous computer program that causes harm to your computer. This may include modifying programs or deleting files. There are many different forms of viruses.
• Spyware – A computer program that runs in the bachground and gathers information through the Internet for advertising purposes.
• Trojan Horse – An innocent looking program that contains a malicious code that may destroy certain files.

Removing Keyloggers

If there is a keylogger running on your computer, it will show up in the Task Manager. Right click on your start menu -> Task manager -> Processes. This should show you all the processes running at the moment. If you recognize that a particular process isn’t meant to be running, this is most likely the keylogger. End the process and search for the name of keylogging process on the Internet. You should then be able to find instructions on how to remove the keylogger. Make sure you do not end processes just because you don’t know what they do. The processes that keep your computer running are also included on that list. To find out what each process does, download a free program called Security Task Manager.

Removing Adware

Adware is quite simple to remove. By downloading a free program called Ad-Aware and running a full computer scan, you should be able to detect and delete the adware.

Removing Viruses

Viruses can sometimes be tricky to remove because not all kinds of viruses are detectable by one software only. If you are not willing to pay for a virus scanner, the best freeware to download is AVG Free Edition. This program provides the most thorought scan without you having to pay for the program. Other good programs include A2 Guard and Kapersky.

Preventing Intrusions

Intrusions into computers are becoming more common these days as hackers find more exploits and loopholes. The best way to prevent intrusions into your computer is with a hardware firewall enabled by a router. However software firewalls such as ZoneAlarm should be able to provide enough protection.

With the ever present thought of Windows Vista and Directx10, many gamers will be looking to upgrade their graphics card within the next couple of years. However, there are so many available models and products out there that it is hard to decide between them. It really boils down to what you want to get out of your computer. It is no use springing for the best card out there if you aren’t going to use it to its full potential. Nevertheless it’s no use buying a cheap card when you are going to be running such games as Crysis or Alan Wake.

The current generation of graphics cards has a native API of Diretx9.0c. Currently the top contenders in this format are Nvidia’s 7 series and ATI’s R520. Specifically, the Geforce 7950GTX and the X1950. These two graphics cards have no problem running the games made for Windows XP today. Since they are the best of their kind at Directx9.0c games, there should not be any major problems. However, in the next few years the number of games being made for native Directx9c cards will decrease and native Directx10 games will increase. When faced with graphically amazing games such as Crysis or Alan Wake, these two cards will undoubtedly have a significant problem trying to run them at optimum speed. Though these two cards are a good choice at the moment, they should not be considered adequate for running games of the future at ideal settings. Thankfully, both of these cards are priced relatively low compared to some of the newer generation cards. These cards are perfect for those who want to stick with the DX9c games and mostly avoid the newer games.

The new generation of DX10 native cards is Nvidia’s 8 series and ATI’s R600. The current benchmark cards are the Geforce 8800GTX and the X2900 XTX. Both these cards come at high price of around $600. Nevertheless, they can handle the most detailed games at the highest setting without so much as blinking. These cards are sure to last for a while, so those that are looking to stick to one card for the years to come should be looking to spring for the best they can afford.

SLI stands for Scalable Link Interface. This feature combines two graphics cards in computer to greatly increase the speed. Using SLI is guaranteed to get you a better performce than with just one card. This is perfect for hardcore gamers that are looking to squeeze everything they can out of their computers and produce the best looking results on screen. However SLI does not come without it’s price. SLI requires two of the same graphics card connected together in the computer. With the highest end graphics card costing $600, the best SLI connection would cost $1200.

Regardless of graphics cards, there will certainly be vast range of games appearing throughout the next few years to satisfy any gamer’s need.