Save yourself from virus or getting hacked!

Protect Yourself !

You know what’s the nightmare scariest for all computer users? Yes… it is a virus. A virus is the most dangerous thing you can have in a computer. People are so much afraid of getting infected with it. It corrupts your operating system, deletes important documents, steals your password, connects to an unsecure connection (Trojan dialer), may hang your pc (your computer does not responds), can crash your precious hard drive and the adverse effects are unlimited… Viruses are of many types. But the effects are all same steal your data and corrupt your operating system.

Either it’s a keylogger, a dialer, an adware or Trojan or any other program, these are no good for you.

Basically a virus is a logical program just like any other program in your computer but a virus works in a destructive way. So eTechgyan is giving you some precious tips to protect your computer from virus and if infected, then how to get rid of it.

How would I know whether my computer is infected or not ?

There is not any specific procedure to find out actually. But here are a few ::

1. Computer behavior changes (may get slow occasionally or frequently)
2. Your keyboard/mouse/monitor may get blocked and does not works
3. Your files are corrupted and does not opens with any program or the program specified to open it.
4. A custom message may be displayed on screen at start up or while you are working.
5. A program may close automatically without closing it
6. You cannot see hidden files when opted to see through folder options.
7. Your drive gets corrupted asking to format it.
8. You cannot install any new program
9. You cannot open some websites (say antivirus or security related)
10. You password or details of online account is changed automatically (not by you)

And so on … altogether, you will find yourself… Your computer will act in a strange way…

Now if infected then how to cure it or how to stay away from these destructive program

Here are some simple steps to stay away from virus …

1. First of all do not use older versions of browsers (like older versions of internet explorer), as some of the security bugs were discovered in it. And using older versions for a long time can easily infect your computer. Mozilla Firefox or Opera are quite easy and safe to use.
2. Do not click on suspicious links and do not install any scripts to your computer without knowing the actual source and complete reliability. It might contain harmful code that could damage your computer.
3. Install and update your pc with latest versions of spyware and antivirus with firewall. Remember new threats and exploits are discovered regularly that can bypass older versions of these antivirus programs and spywares, so ensure that you regularly update your program. Spyware Search and Destroy, Spyware doctor are some good spywares. And there are many antivirus available in market. Like – Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky and others. If you do not want to spwwnd money, then avast is the best option for you. It is free and provides secure environment for web browsing too.
4. Once in a month (atleast), restart your pc in safe mode and run all of the above programs once to search and destroy such unwanted programs. (Continuously press F8 while your pc is booting up).
5. Regularly check the programs schedules at startup, whether all are wanted or not. Immediately delete startup entry for those programs, which are strange to you or looks unwanted excluding the system processes which are essential to run.

cCleaner is one good freebie to use. It includes the registry cleaner and there is one option to check startup entries. You can either disable or delete those entries which are unwanted.

6. Make sure your firewall doesn’t have strange exceptions. Check through start >> settings >> control panel >>       windows firewall (in windows xp) . If you find any such strange exceptions, uncheck it and apply changes.

7. Regularly check your task manager. They should not have some strange process running that are not meant to run. If found any, immediately end that process.

8. Check your registry entries (Click start –> Run and type regedit to get into the registry) and look in HKEY_CurrentUser/software/microsoft/windows/currentversion/run & HKEY_Local_Machine/software/microsoft/windows/currentversion/run. Verify that all programs listed are normal and wanted.

9. If you suspect anything that is going wrong with your computer is the action of a stalker, on the other system which is on a more secure system. Change all your major passwords, by  using a virtual keyboard(to prevent keyloggers).

If using windows à Start >> Programs >> Accessories >> Accessibility >> On-screen keyboard

10. Use explorer to go to the windows/system32 folder and sort by date. If you haven’t already done so, make sure you can see the entire file names. click Tools –> Folder Options and unclick the box labeled “Hide extensions for known file types” and under Hidden files and folders click “Show hidden files and folders.” However, make sure you choose “Hide protected operating system files” so you don’t accidentally remove anything that would cripple your computer.. You are looking for recent files with names ending with .exe and .dll that look suspicious. Major culprits will have gibberish names such as alkjdlkjfa.exe.

11.It is always good to make a back up of all of your important files and passwords because if you are specifically targeted, you can never be fully sure that you will not be targeted again. You can make backups by transferring copies of documents or files to other storage devices or through the automatic backup softwares like Norton Ghost or others.

Note: If you find any specific process that is not being cured, then you can google it for more info about it and if found suspicious then search the way to cure it.

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Some more security tips:

• If using Mozilla Firefox, under the security option tab of Firefox, set a master password for securing all passwords stored in the password manager.
• Do not share your password with others, especially anyone you met online.
• Before you login to any website, make sure you are logging to the actual website not the mirror of the website which may steal your login and personal information. (Check url of the webpage in which you are going to login).
• Use virtual keyboard to sign in to bypass keyloggers.
• Use secured and strong passwords to signup i.e. it should not be your date of birth, contact number or number related to you. It should not be easily guess- able
• If you suspect that your account has been hacked, just change the password of the account or if the password has been changed by the other person, then just follow the security question/forgot password link to retrieve or change the password or whichever option is available.

That’s it. I’ve tried to cover maximum cases although not covered all, you are welcome if you want to give any more tips for the same.

Stay Protected !

Get Gyan !