What is a Computer Virus & The best Virus Protection

What is a computer virus ? just about everyone on the planet has heard of Computer virus's, there are reckoned to be over 50,000 different variations of them, with another 10 entering the Internet each day. Like We pointed out in

Windows Antispyware Article
If your computer is acting strangely, slow, popups, antivirus software not reporting any viruses ? maybe your computer is infected by spyware, although in many respects similar to a virus, spyware has become as much as an issue and in many respects can be as damaging. There are many types of spyware most is generally harmless, but there is more to be aware of…

So what is a Computer Virus ?

It's basically a file or application, created or written by someone.

Like any application it has a set purpose, but in this case the purpose is always malicious to some extent.
Virus's have different payloads,

some of them damage files, others replicate very quickly and email themselves to people via your address book, some of them do very little, others cause huge amounts of damage.

Virus's cost business's and individuals billions of dollars each year, as soon as a new virus hits the Internet it can take about twenty four hours before the Antivirus companies release a patch to prevent it spreading.

In this time it can cause major damage and expense.

One of the worst virus out breaks was on the 1st of May 2000 a virus called "love bug" infected over three point one million computers world wide,

it replicated itself by emailing people from address books, people then received an email from a friend titled "I love you" then opened it and hey presto your pc is infected.

It's payload included overwriting files with itself and then sending valuable information to a website.

" what is a computer virus article "

Luckily such incidents are rare, but regardless of whether it's a big corporation or a single user who suffers due to a virus outbreak, the results can be catastrophic for both parties.

To keep your pc safe from Virus's make sure you have decent antivirus software,

we have listed some of the best ones on our "windows security" page.

Also never ever open emails with attachments if you are not sure who the sender is, this is the way that most virus's infect computers.

Even with everything in place and following the precautions above,

you will minimize the chances of getting your pc infected, but there is still always a chance,

" what is a computer virus article "

so make sure you keep important files backed up on separate media, checkout our "windows security" page for more information on backing up files

If the worst does happened and your pc is infected, your Anti Virus software will do one of three things
it will either clean or remove the virus
quarantine the file,
or it will do nothing.

Obviously if it manages to remove the virus, great, if it manages to quarantine any infected files, make sure you do not need them, then go into the quarantine area and delete the files .

If you've got virus problems, also check there's no
spyware installed, read our guides on this

generally if the files could not be cleaned initially, they probably will not be able to be cleaned period.

Lastly if the worst happens and your anti virus software cannot clean or quarantine the virus, this means that the virus is running on your pc,

from here the first thing to try would be to boot into safe mode, you can do this by hitting the F8 key on boot up,

you will get a menu, just select safe mode, when you get in safe mode, run a complete anti virus scan and it should pickup and remove any found.

If you need to try something else, try an online scanner providing you can still get onto the internet,

but be warned the virus will still be active on your pc.

Two of the best online scanners are made by Panda and Mcafee if you need to use them just go to

so what is a computer virus ? now you know

Hopefully that will have removed any virus on your pc, if your still having problems, "some virus's are stubborn little blighters"

If Anti Virus software cannot remove it, you'll have to get rid of it manually unless someone has written a removal tool for it,

the only other thing I can recommend is make a note of the virus name and search on the web for "name of virus" removal.

I'm sure if all else fails this method, although it can get a little tough will be able to help you.

" what is a computer virus article "

this article what is a computer virus article checkout more on windows security

Best virus protection
What do you look for in your anti virus software ? What makes the best anti virus software ? the price ? the ease of use ? low use of system resources ?, these are just some of the common factors we need to checkout, but there are many more to consider, checkout more here..

Free Registry Fix
If your computer is or has been infected has your anti virus software removed any or all registry fragments left behind? Find out about cleaning your registry and restoring it to an earlier time without losing any files

Internet Explorer Slow ?
What causes internet explorer to run slow? Did you know one of the biggest causes of is down to malware, this includes viruses and spyware. Unfortunately as our web browsers are the front line when it comes to surfing the web, this means they experience the maximum exposure, what can we do about this? What are the other causes of a slow browser…
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