Steps to be taken
if computer is infected
by a virus
Steps to be taken when your computer is affected by virus:
Computer viruses in general hide or camouflage themselves among the regular files. Therefore, it is not possible to recognize this even by a computer professional. Read along to understand the signs of virus in a system, and how to recover the data as well as avoid corruption of data by the malicious programs or malware. It is always essential to know the symptoms before understanding the essential steps that are to be taken when a system is
infected by virus.
Indication for viruses in a system:
You can understand that your system is affected by virus using various different symptoms. Some of them are discussed below:
a) System is behaving "strangely"
b) CD-ROM drive opens and closes automatically
c) Unusual sounds
d) Certain programs start on your system on their own
e) Messages popping up in your system from nowhere
f) There is a warning from your firewall that certain programs are attempting to connect to the Internet and has failed when you haven't done so.
g) Large amount of messages without a senderAs name in your inbox
h) You receive messages from your near and dear that they received an email from you when you have not send them one
i) Unable to close the Internet explorer, that is, it freezes up
j) System is freezing up suddenly and very frequently
k) System is unable to load the Operating System
l) You notice that there is a lot of hard drive access, that is, light of the hard drive is flashing up very often
m) Speed of the system is suddenly reduced
n) Contents of your files and folders changes itself automatically
Measures to be taken when you start noticing the symptoms:
a) Disconnect the Internet from your system
b) Is your system in a Local Area Network (LAN)? If yes, disconnect it from LAN
c) Try starting the system in Safe mode or by using Windows boot disk
d) Keep your cool and backup all the necessary data to any removable media like floppy disk, CD-ROM, etc
e) Check whether you have the latest version of antivirus software if you already have one or install antivirus software if one doesn't exist in your system
f) It is always recommended to download the antivirus updates from a system that is not affected by virus
g) Run a full system scan
Hurray! There is no virus. Then check whether all hardware and software are installed properly in your system. Download the necessary windows updates. If you have installed any software that do not have proper license, remove them instantaneously. Clear up all the temp files.
Oh no! You found a virus. Don't get carried away. Follow these steps to
remove it and safeguard your system:
a) Use a good antivirus software to perform a system scan
b) You would be provided with options to disinfect the infected file, quarantine it or to delete the Trojan. You will also be given a report detailing about the list of malicious programs found in your system
c) Certain worms, Trojans or malicious programs require special utilities to remove them. Therefore, it is always a good idea to search the antivirus vendor website to check for that particular malware and see whether there are any special utilities to get rid of it
d) Tried all the methods, however, unable to remove a particular virus. It means then the virus has corrupted the file and there is no way to recover it. To avoid the system being further infected, delete the infected file.If you are a computer professional or an experienced user, follow these steps else please do not attempt to perform the below-given steps:
a) Use CHKDSK program to find the integrity of the hard drive
b) Run Scandisk
c) Boot your system using Windows boot disk and then perform a full system scan
If none of the steps described in this article helps you, it is recommended that you send out an email or get proper assistance from your antivirus software vendor.
After the viruses are been removed from your system, ensure that you have installed latest version of antivirus software and run a thorough scan.