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What to do When Your Computer Gets a Computer Virus

First of all, go get a drink of water and calm down. If you’re too excited you won’t know what to do when your computer gets a computer virus. Or if you’d rather go get yourself some chocolate do that. I know that always calms me down.

Steps to take if your computer has a virus

Then if you’re connected to a wireless router, disconnect your computer. This will keep your other computers from getting infected. This is like when one of your children gets sick and you confine them to their room.

Back-up your data. This is important enough to say it again. Back up your data. Maybe I should tell you again. Back up your data!

You will have to connect again; however, the best way to do that is to use a wired connection. There are many free virus scans online; you could download one if you need to. (Of course, being the responsible computer owner you are, you’ve not let your computer virus software go out of date, did you? No. I thought not.)

Next, run your virus scan! If you’ve kept your software updated (and you did, right?) then your virus scan should be able to pick it up. If you’ve not kept it up to date, then try to download a more current version of your anti-virus software. You may have to wait a bit for it to finish, but if you catch it early that will be all the better. Delete those bad boys! Get them off of there!

The next thing to do is to check your files. Some may not be able to be recovered. So make sure your computer is running the way it should. It can be difficult to know whether or not your computer has a virus, much less if you’ve gotten rid of the virus. My OCD brain makes me do a second scan. If you need to too, that’s okay.

Then, if there is still a problem, you may need to contact technical support. Most computer companies offer support of some sort when you buy your computer. It will become ineffective after a certain amount of time; however use it if you can. Another option is just to take it in and pay to have someone look at it.

Preventative care

Now if you’ve been through the whole virus thing you know it’s important to keep on top of things. There is a reason for the adage “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Keep your virus software updated! Run scans often, at least weekly. Don’t download things you don’t recognize. Don’t open emails from those you don’t know. Be careful when you are online so that you don’t have this problem again. Computer viruses can be a headache. They’re not always preventable, but you can try your best not to let them happen to you! Make sure you get a computer from Dell because they have great technical support in case you do get a virus.

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Windows SkyDrive

Windows SkyDrive offers 7 GB of free online storage with applications available For Windows, Mac, iPad, and mobile. When you use SkyDrive, you’ll never be without the documents, notes, photos, and videos that matter to you. Store anything on your SkyDrive and it’s automatically available from your trusted devices—no syncing or cables needed.

I have been playing around with JustCloud over the past week as a potential on-line automated backup service for our Windows and Mac computers. Overall I have been happy with the results (sans the ability to backup while logged off the computer). However, I just stumbled across Windows SkyDrive (ok, apparently I have used it before as I have files on the server, but do not recall ever “really” using it. All you need to get started is your Free Windows Live Account.

SkyDrive, offered by Microsoft offers three key features:

Access files across PC or Mac

With SkyDrive installed on all your computers, you’ll have automatic access to the latest version of your files wherever you are. SkyDrive allows you to securely store your files and get to them from any of your devices, including your PC, phone, Mac, or iPad. You never have to worry about forgetting a file at home or work, because the latest versions are always automatically synched for you.

Sync files between all your computers

When you download SkyDrive on your PC or Mac, your desktop SkyDrive folder is automatically created. Any file or photo you put in this folder will be automatically synced to your other devices that have SkyDrive and stored online at SkyDrive.com.

Files on your phone and tablet

Use your phone or tablet to get the files and photos you’ve saved to SkyDrive—just download the app for your device. Skydrive is available on the following mobile devices:

  • Windows Phone
  • iPhone and iPad
  • Android and Other phones through SkyDrive.com

Share any file—even big ones

With SkyDrive, it’s easy to share files securely and easily with your friends or coworkers. They won’t need to install any special programs or sign up for a new account, and they can use any web browser to get to the files you share with them. And you have control—your files will only be shared with the people you choose.Simple sharing with anyone. Need to send a large email attachment – Instead of running into size limits for email attachments, you can email a link to photo albums or any other file on SkyDrive.

Post files to Facebook, Twitter, or your blog

When you want to share SkyDrive files on a website, you can copy the SkyDrive link and paste it to any site you want. You can even embed Excel and PowerPoint documents right on your website. SkyDrive also has a built-in share option for Facebook and Twitter.

Secure storage

You get 7 GB of free storage with SkyDrive—that’s enough for over 20,000 Office documents or 7,000 photos. For most people, this is plenty of space. But if 7 GB isn’t enough, you can add even more storage for a low yearly fee.

The files and photos you store in SkyDrive are protected by first-rate security features, including:

  • Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encrypt your files when you upload or download them.
  • Sophisticated physical and electronic security measures on the servers to help keep your files safe.
  • Multiple copies of each file saved on different servers and hard drives to help protect your data from hardware failure.

You can also help strengthen the security of your SkyDrive by creating a strong password and adding one or more proofs to your SkyDrive account. Check the strength of your passwordnow. Add a proof so that if you forget your password, or if your computer or phone is lost or stolen, your data is protected and will remain accessible to you alone.

Compare With other Cloud Storage

 

How Much Does it Cost

In addition to the basic SkyDrive Free account, u to 100 GB of storage space is available at a low annual cost.

  • SkyDrive Free | Free | 7 GB total storage
  • SkyDrive +20 | $10.00/year | Add 20 GB to your free storage
  • SkyDrive +50 | $25.00/year | Add 50 GB to your free storage
  • SkyDrive +100 | $50.00/year | Add 100 GB to your free storage

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Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials is a new, free consumer (yes, you read that correctly – FREE) anti-malware solution for your computer. It helps protect against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. It’s available as a no-cost download for Windows XP SP2 and higher, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

Why should I download Microsoft Security Essentials?

  • Comprehensive protection—Microsoft Security Essentials helps defend your computer against spyware, viruses, worms, Trojans, and other malicious software.
  • Easy to get, easy to use—Because Microsoft Security Essentials is available at no cost, there’s no registration process that requires billing or personal information collection. It installs after a quick download and Genuine Windows validation and then stays automatically up-to-date with the latest protection technology and signature updates.
  • Quiet Protection—Microsoft Security Essentials doesn’t get in your way. It runs quietly in the background and schedules a scan when your computer is most likely idle. You only see alerts when you need to take action.
  • Automatic Updates

What are others saying

“When put against AV-Test’s “WildList” collection of 3,194 recent, common viruses, bots, and worms, Microsoft Security Essentials detected and removed each and every one of the malware samples. How does this compare to other security products? AV-Test coordinator Andreas Marx notes that “several other [antivirus] scanners are still not able to detect and kill all of these critters yet.” In addition, Microsoft Security Essentials put up a perfect score with zero false positives–it didn’t flag a single clean file as being malicious. AV-Test also took an initial look at Microsoft Security Essentials’ rootkit detection, testing it against a few rootkit samples, and found “nothing to complain about.”  – Nick Mediati, PC World, 06/25/2009

Microsoft Security Essentials security status

Microsoft Security Essentials has a clean, simple home page that shows the security state of your computer.

A green icon means your computer is protected.

A green icon means that the security status of your computer is good. Microsoft Security Essentials is up -to- date and is running in the background to help protect your computer against malware and other malicious threats. When your computer has an issue that requires your attention, the look of the Microsoft Security Essentials home page changes based on the issue. The status pane turns either yellow or red depending on the situation, and an action button appears in a prominent location on the page with the suggested action.

A yellow icon means that status is fair or potentially unprotected and that you should take some action, such as turning on real-time protection, running a system scan, or addressing a medium-severity or low-severity threat. 

A yellow icon means that status is fair or potentially unprotected and that you should take some action, such as turning on real-time protection, running a system scan, or addressing a medium-severity or low-severity threat.

 A red icon means that your computer is at risk and that you must address a high- or severe-level threat to protect it.

A red icon means that your computer is at risk and that you must address a severe threat to protect it. Click the button to take the recommended action and Microsoft Security Essentials will clean the detected file and then do a quick scan for additional malicious software.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we have to give Microsoft some credit for dealing with critisim of security face first and at a price you can not beat.

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Whats new in WordPress 3.0 “Thelonious”

We’ve been waiting a while for a final release of WordPress 3.0, and its finally here. When you see what’s new I think you’ll agree that it’s been worth the wait.

WordPress 3.0 includes lots of improvements and updates—from a simpler and cleaner user–interface, to some more major changes such as improved post type options (I.e. Newsletter, Product and Contacts).

You’ll see more about the new features in the video below. But here are a few of the highlights that stood–out to me with this latest release:

  • Bulk updates – Update your WordPress installation or up to 15 plugins at once
  • Custom menu’s – More advanced menu options, such as drop–downs
  • Custom header image – Easily apply different custom header images to individual posts
  • Custom post types – New post types including Products, Contacts, Employees and Newsletters takes WordPress closer to being a fully–fledged CMS
  • MU + WP 3.0 – Control multiple WordPress sites from a single installation

See what’s New in Wordress 3.0

Read more about WordPress 3.0 “Thelonious” here, or you can download it here.

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