by Nigel Hilton
Realizing that your computer or laptop has been infected with a virus can be very unsettling. It may lead to you losing considerable time that should be spent on your work and you may even lose a lot of sensitive files and data.
Your initial reaction might be to start panicking. Don’t, though! There are some more useful steps you can take to try and heal your machine. Read on to find out more.
Figure Out If It Is A Virus
Are you sure it is a virus? If your computer is old then it could be easy to mistake its slow speed as a symptom of a virus. There are some very obvious signs that you have a virus, though. For instance, you will see a lot of annoying pop-up windows and you might notice that some of your files go missing unexpectedly. These issues aren’t to do with an aging computer.
Download Antivirus Software
So, now that you know your machine definitely has a virus, you should download some antivirus software if you don’t already have some on the machine. This is still an important step - some people think that antivirus software is only a preventative measure, but that isn't always the case. There are some that can help you find the virus on the computer and will try to heal it.
Run A Computer Scan
If the antivirus software doesn’t remove the virus completely, it’s time to perform a full computer scan. For instance, if your laptop or computer is Microsoft, you can run the Microsoft Safety Scanner. This should detect any threats and remove it for you. However, this won’t have an effect on some of the more sophisticated viruses and malware.
Take Your Machine To The Pros
If the above steps don’t seem to help you at all, it’s time to take your computer to the experts so that they can take a look at it. You might choose to go to a company like Difenda Cybersecurity, or a similar tech firm in your local area. They will have a lot more sophisticated ways to treat the machine and remove the virus than what you will be able to get your hands on. Not only that, though, but they will also be able to clear the virus from the machine without losing any of your files or data in the process.
Wipe Your Hard Drive
Unfortunately, there might be some very complex viruses that even the experts can’t deal with. If this is the case, and the tech firm have to return your computer to you with the virus still on it, you will have to wipe your hard drive. This should remove the virus completely, but you will then have to go to the bother of reinstalling all your files, programs, and software. If you had not recently backed-up your machine before the virus hit, then you stand a good chance of losing everything that was stored on the computer.
Keep your fingers crosses that you never have to deal with a virus!