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.

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