Today’s biggest concern online these days for the home user is no longer the common ‘virus’ but rather, malware.
While a virus can be out to corrupt or take down a system, malware is there to gain unauthorized access to your system and/or trick you into providing your information. The most common are ‘phishing scams’ in which the malware will disguise itself as a real anti-virus program or an alert from your computer requiring you to provide information. Unfortunately, once you hit this point the damage is usually done, you are now infected, but there are a few ways to prevent these things from happening.
Regrettably there is no 100% way to prevent malware from gaining access to your computer, as most of these infections trick you into clicking and giving access, circumventing any anti-virus protection you might have. Your best weapon is knowledge. The first rule of preventing malware is always don’t click on ANYTHING you are unsure of, and don’t click on ANY ads. A majority of these infections will come from pop-up ads and banner ads. By clicking even once anywhere within the ad you are giving permission for data to be transferred to your computer.
When in doubt over a newly opened web page, simply close it. Sometimes there will not even be the ‘close X’ in the top corner to close them. When this happens you have two options. Your first option is to right-click the window at the bottom on your toolbar and click close. Sometimes even this is not an option. When this happens press CTRL+ALT+DEL to open your task manager, click on the ‘Applications’ tab, highlight your web browser on the list of opened programs and click ‘End Task’ at the bottom. It may ask if you are sure, if so, click yes to confirm.
If you believe you have already become infected the first thing you should do is disconnect your computer from the Internet. These malicious programs open ‘back doors’ on your system, and, as long as you are connected to the internet, more infections will come in or the ones you have will multiply. Proceed to take your computer to a computer repair company at your first opportunity. We provide efficient and effective virus and malware removal featuring one of the best turn-around times in Austin, TX!
Frankenstein Computers has been taking care of our happy clients since 1999. We specialize in affordable IT Support, Cyber Security, IT Service, IT Security, Office 365, Cloud, VOIP, SPAM, Wireless, Network Design, MAC repair, PC Repair, Virus Removal, remote support, web design, on site support and much more. Check out what our clients have to say about us on Yelp!