Viruses and Spyware - What You Need To Know Part 1

In Part 1, I want to highlight some basic do's and dont's.

These are not exhaustive, but they do serve as a solid platform to work from.

So in no particular order, they are:

DONT'S:

DO NOT open e-mail attachments with the following file extensions, even if you know the sender: .ade .adp .asx .bas .bat .chm .cmd .com .cpl .crt .exe .hlp .hta .inf .isp .isp .js .jse .lnk .mda .mdb .mde .mdz .msc .msi .msp .mst .pcd .pif .prf .reg .scf .scr .sct .shb .shs .url .vb .vbe .vbs .wsc .wsf .wsh

Even though the.doc/x &.xls/x file extensions have not been mentioned above, BE CAREFUL. Word & Excel documents can contain harmful Macros (A mini-program which will execute a series of commands in series). Also, it is now possible to infect a computer through some image file formats, primarily the WMF format, and recently JPG and BMP formats. This vulnerability can be addressed by making sure that your system is up to date with all Microsoft security patches. In addition, Adobe PDF files can be crafted to incorporate malicious content, so make sure you keep Adobe Reader up to date too.

DO NOT use Floppy Disks or USB Drives from unknown sources unless scanned first using your antivirus software, & even then be careful.

DO NOT believe any e-mail that tells you to delete Windows files stating that the virus cannot be detected by antivirus software. A lot of the time this is a hoax that tricks you into deleting critical Windows system files.

Five Good Reasons Why Becoming a Virus Removal Expert Is Difficult

Having experienced the trouble of having a virus or malware endanger your computer before, you would be of the opinion that becoming a professional in virus and malware removal would make your life easier when dealing with these problems. You would become the expert that your friends or relatives would first go to the moment that they suspect their laptops or PCs of harboring malware or believe that their online accounts had been hacked. You can do this if you understand how anti-malware programs such as paid and free antivirus applications work, and how they eliminate malware such as viruses, rootkits, spyware, adware and others from your computer. This article, however, will point out the importance of hard work, experimentation, and time in transforming yourself into a viral and anti-malware removal professional.

The five reasons listed below are needed for any computer user who aims at becoming a malware removal expert:

The first reason is recognizing the most effective and least-performing virus scanning and removal software there is available. This is the most valuable skill that any viral removal professional should possess; a computer security expert should know what kind of software or program to employ to flag down and eliminate malware. Not all malware-scanning utilities are created equal; some would cost you a fortune to buy and yet you need to renew or repurchase their license every year and they are just as efficient as the free antivirus downloads that you find in the Internet. To illustrate this point, a premium antiviral suite that would cost you $50 can only mark out and remove three out of ten viral software programs; the other seven may sneak in undetected in your PC or laptop and eventually damage it. Leading paid antiviral solutions such as Panda, Norton Antivirus, and McAfee are not capable of taking out every possible viral or malware program from your computer. In fact, no antiviral or anti-malware program is perfectly effective at identifying and eliminating all malware infections from your PC or laptop. It is crucial to have different kinds of anti-malware programs available when checking for viruses and malware and for you to evolve into a computer security guru, you must be able to recognize which antiviral or anti-malware application is best suited to tackling that particular malware.