| How to remove a virus
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How these infections start
Just like any program, in order for the program to work, it must be started. Malware programs are no different in this respect and must be started in some fashion in order to do what they were designed to do. For the most part these infections run by creating a configuration entry in the Windows Registry in order to make these programs start when your computer starts.
Unfortunately, though, in the Windows operating system there are many different ways to make a program start which can make it difficult for the average computer user to find manually. Luckily for us, though, there are programs that allow us to cut through this confusion and see the various programs that are automatically starting when windows boots. The program we recommend for this, because it’s free and detailed is Auto runs from Sysinternals.
When you run this program it will list all the various programs that start when your computer is booted into Windows. For the most part, the majority of these programs is safe and should be left alone unless you know what you are doing or know you do not need them to run at startup.
At this point, you should download Auto runs and try it out. Just run the Autoruns.exe and look at all the programs that start automatically. Don\'t uncheck or delete anything at this point. Just examine the information to see an overview of the amount of programs that are starting automatically. When you feel comfortable with what you are seeing, move on to the next section. This is the time to think about how to remove a virus
Steps on how to remove a virus
1. Update your Anti-virus Definitions.
We suggest setting your Anti-virus to run automatic updates, however many viruses are now programmed to disable your Live Updates so that you must run them manually. You can update your virus definition files manually by opening the program and clicking on Live Update. Another option is visiting the website of the software manufacturer and looking for a section on virus definition updates. If you are using Symantec Anti-virus, click here for definition updates.
2. Run a Full Scan on your PC.
To scan your computer for virus infections with Symantec software, click on the Scan option in the menu on the left, then select Scan computer. You will be given a menu for you to select which drives you would like to scan. The simplest option would be to check the box next to My Computer, which will automatically check all of the boxes below, allowing you to scan every file that your computer currently has access to. If you are certain that a particular drive is safe, you may uncheck the box and click Scan once you are ready. This process can take anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour, depending on how many files and programs you have on your hard drive. The program may find infected files that can be readily treated by quarantine/deleting them; however certain worms and viruses can infect files that are necessary for your computer to run and therefore cannot be deleted. You should write down the names of these once they are found in order to search for the required removal tool.
How to remove a virus >
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