Quick Malware Removal

Today is the day for pet hates

I have just seen an advert on my very own Blog which says it can remove malware from my PC in minutes. I know from repairing computers that removing malware from a pc is a very involved process and cannot be done in 2 minutes. Hours more like. Compounded very often by the fact that the pc has been seriously messed up by the use of quick fixes. These do more harm than good.

Prevention is better than cure
Get a decent antivirus product. If it is free, it is not decent. It is a cut down product and hardly worth using up system resources for.
Dont think that you can use your computer on every website in the whole world. Many websites, even the best and most prominent in the world can be invaded by malicious code which can infect your computer in a drive-by fashion. Always be wary.
Dont say "yes" to everything when you download software.
Dont download willy nilly. The more you have running on your computer the slower it gets.
Avoid those exciting little toolbars, they use up valuable system resources as they busily chat away to their coders in the background. Read all the messages properly when installing software. Say NO to additional bits and pieces. Acrobat reader is one of those which does all this for example
Dont allow a program to automatically update. Always do it when YOU want to and not before. Automatic updaters are chatty little programs. If you are running loads, you will certainly notice a difference in the speed of your once pristine computer.
Just because it is free, doesnt mean it is good.

Registry cleaners are not the holy grail.
The registry is what runs the computer. Everything on your computer can be found as coding in the registry. Mess the registry up by deleting items or programs or so called orphan files can seriously mess up your computer. Avoid registry cleaners unless you know what you are doing.

If your computer is running slowly or is behaving erratically, it needs attention from an expert. Having a decent antivirus program will probably save you money by avoiding to have to pay for the expert. Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted is going to cost you a lot more money in the long run. Decent antivirus such as ESET Smart Security will be money very wisely and well spent. Contact PCBuilda if you need to discuss it without the jargon and we will help you through the mire.

Scamming Is Becoming a Daily Hazard

One of my pet hates is receiving one of those phone calls from someone claiming to be from Microsoft informing me that my computer is sending weird messages to the internet and is possibly infected. If you ever get one of these phone calls please remember the following

• Microsoft never phone you up to say this
• Microsoft doesn't have your phone number (unless you are registered with them and have given it to them)
• They cannot tell that your computer is sending messages to anyone unless they are intercepting and hacking your computer traffic.
• They may show you your event logs, event logs are always busy and invariably show some errors so are not a worry so dont panic

Firstly what do you do?

• Never believe anything they are saying
• Dont worry that they are showing you errors on your pc
• Never hand over any payment
• Never allow them to dupe you into going to a website of any description
• Never talk to them again.

What happens next if you have paid them some money and allowed them onto your pc

• If you pay money, you will never get it back
• They may use your credit card details fraudulently
• They may send you to an infected website that downloads malicious content to your pc

If they put malicious content on your pc it could

• log all your keystrokes (ultimately giving them your passwords and who knows what else)
• Put monitoring software on your computer in order to allow them to gain access to your pc at any time
• Use your webcam to monitor you and your environment so see what valuables you have
• Put malicious ransomeware on your pc which will render your computer useless unless you pay the ransom money to have it removed.

If you have allowed them access
WARNING
Do not use your computer for any banking. Get onto another pc and change your passwords for your banking if you do banking online. Have your computer checked over by a virus specialist.