So you think you might have a virus?

Who and What
So here it is 2009 and we still have to deal with viruses and hackers. It's funny to think that virus programming including spyware/ad-ware and Anti-virus software are still growth markets after all these years. Many people ask me why computers still get viruses and why do people make them. Well to answer the "why" question, it depends on when in computer history we refer.



From what I found, initially people created and distributed viruses just for "kicks" and bragging rights. Most were harmless pranks like popping a messages on your screen. The more attention from the AV (Anti-Virus) industry and media the more glory you got. Over time, to up the anti and become more infamous, virus programmers became more vicious. I tell people it's like young kids toilet papering a house, the more prominent the location and the size of the job gives the biggest thrill.

These days things have changed

Viruses that are destructive like Code Red, Love Letter and Chernobyl caused huge panic and cost millions of dollars. However it's the ones that you don't hear about that are the ones to worry about. These new data theft trojans are obviously about money. This is one component of virus activity also known asSpy-Ware that is very common. Some people in the tech business do not consider Spy-Ware as a virus but my definition is this: any code executed on a computer system without the knowledge of the user is a virus.

Although, the media and the people who make money on selling counter measures make it seem like identity theft is happening to you right now. The fact is that the information theft does not occur through security breaches of personal computers as one may think. To attain information from a single computer about a single person rarely yeilds enough information. It is easier to spoof an email or even dumpster dive to gain even better information. Moreover, a large source of identity theft actually occurs through large scale inside jobs or hacking of banking and other institutions that handle personal data i.e. social security and credit card numbers.

AdWare, Search engine and browser hijacking are a couple other types of common viruses. Another is a virus that virtually takes control of your computer and does the remote operators bidding. The worst part is you probably can't tell its happening. These are called "robots" or "zombies".

So how can I tell if my computer is infected?

Although there is no one sure fire way to tell if your computer is infected, the following list of methods should reveal some sort of problem. However, you may want to consider having a professional examine your system. Many will give a remote consult free of charge and others are on site and may charge a fee. Sometimes even your local cable provider (if you use their internet service) will help you for free but shop around for someone who knows what their doing.

1. The very FIRST and BEST thing you should do is to have a good and reliable Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software installed. This will obviously tell you if you are infected and is also the first thing you do to eliminate a virus. Some popular choices include:

• Webroot AV (Good, easy to use AntiVirus with built in AntiSpyware)
• BitDefender (Another good all around AV and provides network coverage)
• The Shield Deluxe (Claimed to be the best and esiest to use)
• SpyWare Doctor with AntiVirus (Good Program 3 Users for $40)
• Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Premium (Another highly rated AV)
• Avast (Good all around AV with Anti Spyware and is FREE for home use)
• AVG (A good FREE Anti-Virus) or the Pro at AVG Pro (Not Free but more features)
• Symantec (although I'm not a big fan because it falls under my bloatware category and uses significant system resources which may slow your system down, it works well)
• McAfee (Another popular choice but also heavy use of your system resources)
• Spybot Search and Destroy (This is a good FREE anti Spyware only but should be used with an AV)

This list is not in any specific order and I have only used and tested a few of these so read customer reviews and research carefully.

2. Did I mention that you should call a professional? Ok, so you still want try it on your own. First, watch your computer during boot-up and decide if it just takes a long time because you have a lot of junk installed or does it truly seem to be really slow. Click on the Start Button (Vista and Windows 7 users have the round widget thingy) and click on "run" (Vista and Windows 7 users can do this through the "SEARCH" text box). type "msconfig" in the text box and press Enter. Click on the "startup" tab and there you will see a list of programs that start when you boot your computer. If you have a large number of programs, that is a likely reason your system starts slowly. However, look to see if there are any programs that don't look familiar. If you find a few, don't panic because they may be part of a software you own. But to be on the safe side, you should contact a professional to check these unknown programs out.

3. To determine if a program is running and using a lot of system resources (RAM and CPU) open task list. To do this press the Control key (ctrl) and the Shift key (shift) and hold them down. Now while holding the others down press the Escape key (esc). This should bring up the task menu. By the way this only works in Windows 2000 and above. Look at the list and find the CPU column. now scroll up and down and see if there is a program (listed to the left) that is using more than a couple percent of CPU time. However, ignore the "System Idle Process" because that is usually high and should be 98 to 99 percent. If you find a program using a lot of CPU time, write it down and look it up in Google or some search engine. If your research shows it to be a virus, call a professional.

There are other obvious ways to tell if you have a problem with your system like "pop ups' with advertisements whether your using your internet browser or not; Strange search results; The hard drive appears to always be performing some activity. Anything out of the ordinary may or may not be a problem so I'm going to mention this again. Call a professional.

I will eventually write a very technical guide for virus and malware removal so keep looking here from time to time.