Viruses and Spyware

A relative’s computer went haywire, and she rang me up for help, knowing that I’m quite knowledgeable with basic PC knowledge and hubby’s a PC nut.

From her description (PC slows down when running certain applications, trouble with internet connectivity etc) I know that it’s either viruses or spyware, the latter being the bigger suspect. So off we went to her house.

Upon inspecting the PC, hubby quickly identified spyware through the Task Manager. He says most malware uses a five-letter .EXE file, or resembles a system .EXE file – such as spoolvs.exe, not to be confused with spoolsv.exe which is a printer .exe. The PC had virtually no protection whatsoever – an outdated antivirus and no anti-spyware programs.

This cousin of mine knows next to nothing about PCs except how to use MSOffice applications. So hubby ran an antispyware program called HijackThis. It’s freeware, and it’s astonishing how effective it is at busting these malware. However, you’d have to be an intermediate or expert PC user to be able to use this.

After clearing the malware, resetting the internet connection, restored the browser to default – everything was OK again. He then installed AVG antivirus and Microsoft Antispyware, and reminded my cousin to update the programs every weekend.

There – wasn’t that hard, was it? - Anyway, HijackThis and Microsoft Antispyware can be downloaded at most software sites, but hubby has a preference for http://www.majorgeeks.com/ (I think I married a handsome… geek). Till next time, adios.