How to Clean Viruses Off Your Computer

How to Remove Malware and Viruses From Your Computer :

Malware is a kind of Malicious   program designed by the Cyber attackers to gain user's personal confidential informations and generate an income. These kinds of attacks are done without the user's knowledge and failing to prevent it may cost you to have large number of losses. 

Viruses, trojan horses, worms, spywares and ransomware are the general types of Malwares created to cause varying effects. For an example Virus has been created to damage clean files, Trojan horses has been created to bind with other online applications and Spyware has been created to watch what you do on the internet. There is a new kind of Malware evolved known as Ransomware which threatens users asking for a ransom if victims does not pay them their personal datas will be published. 

Eventhough technology has been evolved and Operating systems such as Windows 7 / 8 / 10 and Mac are advanced many developers find it difficult to completely erase and delete these malware codes. More and more actions are taken by the developers manually to get rid of these attacks but the hackers are smart enough to counter them, even the most advanced systems can be vulnerable to Malware attacks. If you suspect and find that your system might be attacked by a Malware you should take necessary actions immediately to fix this so that you can avoid having any major losses. 

In my previous article I have discussed the 10 Signs of Malware Infection to identify whether your system might be attacked by a Malware, in this article I will be discussing step by step instructions on how to clean viruses off your computer.

Let's get started,

Step 1 :-  Backup Your Important Files

First thing you have to do if you suspect that your system might be attacked by a Malware is to backup your important datas. This is because in usual Cyber attackers send their document which contains the Malware through a email once the user clicks on the email the malware will start searching for a host file for it to get replicated, it will continue to infect healthy files until it gets maximum. This is the reason why Microsoft Office applications and .exe files get most number of Malware attacks. 

Once you detect that your computer has been infected always take a backup of your uninfected files before the malware spreads. You can use cloud services like Google drive, Dropbox, Mediafire for this purpose. A USB flash drive, DVD/CD drive can also be used, or simply transfer the files using a External hard drive.

Step 2  :- Disconnect From the Network 

Malware type known as the worm has the capability to spread from one computer to another. If you have a poorly protected network connection, let it be a Wifi then the hackers can easily gain access to your network though the network sharing policy. So there will be a chance that all of the connected devices of the respective Wifi network to be infected. 

Therefore it is always advisable to to use strong passwords and careful in using free Wifi networks. In this process you should immediately disconnect all of your network connections including the Wifi so that the Malware can be prevented from connecting to its servers and downloading its required resources. 

Step 3  :-  Restart In Safe mode With Networking

Generally when a Windows is loaded normally, all the required programs including the Malware infected ones will continue to run which will result in more damage. So the option for limiting these programs is by running your computer under an option known as the Safe mode. 

Safe mode ensures that your computer only runs the basic programs that is needed for the functioning of the Operating system. As a result the Malware infected programs may not automatically launch in this mode which will be easier for the user to remove it. There are three known modes for a Computer repair those are Safe mode, Safe mode with Networking and Safe mode with Command Prompt. Safe mode with Networking is known best for fighting against Malware.

To Restart your computer from Safe mode with Networking,

          1. Turn on your computer.
          2. Press F8 key in 1 second interval after heating the Beep  
              sound.
          3. Select Safe mode with Networking in the Advanced Boot 
              Options. 

Step 4 :-  Run A Disk Cleanup

Temporary files can take a lot of hard drive space and make your computer slower apart from that they can be prone to Malware attacks. Basically temporary files are in many formats including jpg, png and .exe. There formats can be easily misused for cyber attacks. The attackers may send these kinds of files through an email, once the user clicks and downloads it the Malware may start its operations. They may continue to run and infect other files until the user takes necessary actions. 

The option for eliminating them may be from a disk cleanup. Disk cleanup may not only help you to get rid of these temporary files they will also help in speeding up the Virus scanning process.

For running a Disk Cleanup,

         1. Go to the Search Bar.
         2. type ''Disk Cleanup''.
         3. Select the drive.
         4. Select the files.
         5. Press Ok.
         6. Press Delete files.

If the Disk Check hangs in the middle of the Deleting process try running Disk Check as Administrator.

Step 5 :-  Run An Anti Virus Software

After you have followed the above mentioned steps its time for you to use your Anti Virus program. If you don't have an Anti Virus program installed you can download one from the internet. Generally there are two kinds of Anti Virus programs called Real time and On Demand scanner. Real time does not need manual instructions from the user for scanning while On Demand scanner needs the instructions from the user manually. 

There is no any Anti Virus programs in the world that can detect Malwares 100%. So it is advisable to use the two kinds if you want to completely get rid of Malwares. After you have successfully installed the required Anti Virus software make a full scan on your entire PC to detect any unknown threats and remove them completely.