PC Security - Part 3

...Following on from Part 2

If you’ve got a virus, often the first you’ll know is when your anti-virus software (AVS) detects it. If it is an already known virus, then the AVS will prevent it infecting your PC, and you’ll be notified just so that you know that it really was worth while having AVS. In this case you need take no further action apart from wiping your brow! If the virus is new, then your software may not recognise it till an update allows the virus to be detected. If your AVS advises that a file on your PC is infected this may mean that other files are infected too. So you’ll need to scan your entire disk to get rid of all trace of the virus.

If you’ve not been keeping your AVS up-to-date then the first you may know about the virus is when Outlook Express or Outlook reports that “a program is trying to send emails on your behalf and is that OK by you?” If you haven’t asked a program to do something that involves sending emails, then there’s a good chance that you have a virus, and you should obviously answer “No you aren’t happy for emails to be sent on your behalf!” Such emails will pass the virus to people you know!

You only get this warning if you have configured Outlook to tell you about such emails. (look at Tools:Options:Security and make sure that you have ticked the “Warn me when other applications try to send email as me” option.) If it isn’t configured to tell you, then the infectious email will be sent and you may get a warning email from an Internet Service Provider who has received the infected email from you! It will often tell you the name of the virus that has been detected. You should then update your anti-virus software and scan your computer.

Another way a virus might be seen is when your firewall reports that a new program is trying to use the internet. (I am assuming that you have installed a firewall or have activated the firewall that comes with Windows XP.) If you have not asked a program to do something that requires it to access the internet, then it oughtn’t to be trying to access the internet. Your firewall should be able to give you some information regarding the suspect program, such as its name. It may be able to give you more details. But there’s no harm in refusing to allow the program to access the internet. The program will just think that you aren’t connected. Having got the program’s name you can search sites www.mcafee.com or www.symantec.com to see whether the program is a known virus.

Another symptom of having a virus is if your system starts behaving erratically. However this may just be a hardware problem such as a corrupt file. If you have the latest virus signatures already installed then for the moment leave your PC powered off and disconnected from the network. On a friend’s PC go to the above web sites and look at how the latest viruses behave. This may help you identify whether a known new virus has infected you. If there is a match, you may well be able to download a small program from the web site that will check and clean out that particular virus. If there’s no obvious match then wait a couple of days and look again. If there’s still no match then assume you have a hardware problem. If you haven’t a recent backup of your data then try to make one as first priority when you next power up your PC. Having got your data safely stored, run scandisk with a surface scan, but tell it not to run write tests since these multiply the time taken. Allow it to fix any errors it finds.

Above all, don’t panic, don’t take hasty actions, do get advice from any PC whiz-kids you know.

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