If your computer is running slower than usual all of a sudden and you haven’t installed a bunch of programs on it lately, your computer may be infected. Infected computers must be repaired immediately or the infection may spread. A Trojan virus is a common infection that disguises itself as an interesting computer file, such as “music. wave file” on the computer of a user who may be into music. The Trojan horse virus isn’t going to spread to other files, but it will cause your computer to be susceptible to vicious intruders by giving them complete access to your files. This type of virus is very dangerous to your computer’s protection as well as your personal privacy.

The best way to check if your computer is indeed infected is to run an anti-virus/anti-spyware scanner. Actually it is recommended to run several virus scanners to be certain what one anti-virus/anti-spyware program missed, the other one catches. Unfortunately there isn’t a retail anti-virus/anti-spyware multi scanner program available for sale. A computer repair professional should have multi virus scanners that they can run to check and remove every single infection on your computer. Virus removal services can cost anywhere from £100 to £175. It is expensive but it beats buying a new computer.

To prevent your computer from becoming infected it is extremely crucial to be certain your computer has anti-virus/anti-spyware protection. These programs can be bought from retail outlets anywhere from £20.00 to £49.99. And if you have two or three computers, you can spend a little more for three licenses to run the program on your extra computers. You should run the anti-virus/anti-spyware virus scan three times a week, but if you surf the net on a daily basis, then you should increase the virus scan to five times a week. The anti-virus/anti-spyware program can be set to automatically scan your computer files anytime of the day. Also, watching what website you visit and what is being downloaded to your computer is another great way to prevent a computer infection.

Now if your computer does become infected, don’t panic. The first thing to do is run your anti-virus/anti-spyware program. If the infection isn’t a serious one, the program will catch it and give you the option to delete it. But if the infection is a really nasty one, more than likely the program may only be able to quarantine it for you. Quarantine is still good because the infection can no longer harm your computer.

Viruses are out there waiting to attack, but if you implement the tips in the above paragraphs your computer will be less likely to become the next cyber victim.