We’ve all heard of computer viruses and the damage they can cause. However, most people don’t know how you get a computer virus or what they do. A computer virus acts in a similar way to the type of virus that causes disease in humans. Once infected, a virus replicates itself and alters the way the computer functions. Sometimes it stops the computer from working altogether.
How Do You Get a Computer Virus?
Computer viruses can happen to anyone, even when they’re careful. Attackers create new viruses all the time and it takes time for anti-virus programs to learn how to identify them. Infection typically occurs through normal Web activities including sharing music, photos, and files, visiting infected websites, opening spam email or infected email attachments, downloading free games, toolbars, and media players, and installing mainstream software applications without thoroughly reading the license agreement.
What Happens When a Computer Virus Infects Your System?
Different viruses do different things. While some viruses harm your computer by damaging files or reformatting the hard drive, others simply flood the network with traffic, making it impossible to browse the Web.
What Are the Symptoms of a Computer Virus?
The most common symptoms of computer virus infection include slow computer performance, erratic computer behavior, unexplained data loss, and frequent computer crashes. If you’ve noticed any of these symptoms, it’s important to have your computer checked by an experienced computer expert. Computer Repair by Marcus can help! We have years of experience locating and removing computer viruses.
Protect Yourself Against Computer Viruses
I’m sure you’ve probably heard the old saying, “an ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure”. This is especially true for computer virus protection. While nothing is 100% effective, you’ll significantly reduce the chance of computer viruses if you do the following:
- Install a quality antivirus program
- Get antispyware software
- Keep your antivirus and antispyware software up-to-date
- Run all operating system updates
- Increase your browser security settings
- Avoid questionable websites
- Only download software from websites you trust
- Carefully evaluate any free software and file sharing applications before downloading
- Never open messages from unknown senders
- Immediately delete all spam emails
Please contact us for more information about computer virus protection and removal.
