“Your computer is infected. You need to take action immediately.”
Millions of computer users have seen warnings similar to the one above. The first thing you should do if you see this warning is NOT take action immediately -- even if the warning is accompanied by a message that your computer has thousands of infections.
The second thing you should do is NOT buy a program that will remove these infections. Why? Because you probably do NOT have thousands of infections. You might have malware -- software that WILL infect your computer if you “take action immediately” to download it. The new infections are designed to spur you to spend at least $100 on software that will restore your computer to where it was before you saw the warning and give the crooked company your credit card number.
"Malware and Computer Security," a University of California-San Diego report, says that signs of a computer infection include popups that say your computer has a "ridiculous" number of viruses, popups that run automatic scans, returned e-mails with virus warnings, a computer screen that suddenly turns black, and a computer that is running much slower than it had previously, possibly because it’s running programs that you don’t see and did not know were on your computer.
Here are some tips if you see a popup that informs you that you need security software:
* Run your computer’s internal anti-malware program. It can often be found by clicking the upward arrow near your screen’s lower right corner. You should move this program’s icon to your screen’s taskbar and run the program about twice a week to detect and fix possible problems ASAP.
* Download an anti-malware program. Many anti-malware programs such as Anvi Smart Defender are free and should also be run about twice a week to detect and fix possible problems ASAP.
* Restore your computer to a time when it ran well. ‘System Restore’ is often found by clicking the flag, ‘Open Action Center,’ ‘Recovery’ and ‘Open System Restore.’ Then, choose a date that corresponds to when changes were made to your computer. If changes were made on April 1 and March 1 and you think that the software installed on April 1 has done more harm than good, choose March 1.
* Remove unwanted software. These could be programs the malware automatically installed. They can be found by clicking the icon on the bottom left of your screen, ‘Control Panel,’ ‘Programs’ and ‘Programs and Features.’ Then, you can uninstall programs listed in ‘Programs and Features.’
* Make sure that your anti-malware programs are up-to-date. You should bookmark the website of the program when you downloaded it and check monthly if it has been updated.
* Do NOT click onto a link that you received from an e-mail from an unexpected source, even if that source is a friend. Your friend’s e-mail system might be hacked.
* Use BrowserCheck, a free software program, to ensure your Internet browsers are up-to-date.
* Change your Internet browser settings so you have to approve a plug-in rather than have it launched automatically.
These tips can save you a lot of money, aggravation, and time. They can even save your job.
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