Protect your computer from virus season

The virus (aka malware) season is upon us but our tech doctors are on the case with suggestions for virus removal, spyware removal and basically a dose of good old preventative measures to keep your computer hardware and network at their highest peak performance. Viruses are usually spread through an attachment or suspicious documents or forms often through email. If your computer hasn’t had a good dose of anti-virus yet, we highly recommend stopping in and asking for a updated shot.

Here are some key symptoms to look for:

1) The Trojan Horse – a virus that sneaks in as an interesting or harmless file that causes a loss or theft of data

Symptoms include: a slow running computer, computer crashes, data corruption and the downloading or uploading of malicious files

Prevention: Avoid downloading or opening any files or emails if you don’t know the website or the person sending it

2) Worms – a virus that multiplies itself through networks or security flaws

Symptoms include: loss of files on a system, relinquishing control to the hacker, corrupted or modified files

Prevention: install the updates to your existing programs regularly as they become available (Microsoft updates, Adobe updates, iTunes etc)

3) Email Viruses – a virus that specifically targets hosts via email to spread

Symptoms include: emails from unknown senders and strangers, emails from friends and family that don’t make sense and/or that contain links only

Prevention: Install a spam filter and spam blocker to your email accounts

Remember, preventative measure are always the best way to go.

If you’ve experienced any of the symptoms or are certain that your system has a virus, contact usimmediately.

At best case, we’ll get your computer a good dose of anti-virus and ask you to call us in the morning. At worst case, we’ll have to keep your computer overnight and potentially for an extended stay until it’s cured.