The first thing is Don’t Panic and the second is turn off the machine!
If you have a virus don’t waste your time trying to delete it from the actual machine while it’s switched on. That won’t work. Just shut it down and call me.
About Spyware and Scamware
Don’t pay for that pop-up anti-virus software that will get rid of those 700 trojans it’s telling you about. They just want your credit card details.
About Credit Card Theft
A lot of the time these scams are all about getting your credit card details and not fixing your machine. Always think twice before typing the numbers. If in doubt, call me.
About Cryptolocker Virus
These have come about in the past couple of years. They usually come in via email, so the rule of not clicking on everything very much applies here. You don’t know you have one until a message appears telling you your documents are all encrypted and you need to pay £500 or so to get them unlocked. By that point it’s too late. This stuff also spreads to other machines and hard drives on your network so be very careful. Cleaning them off is easy but the documents will still be encrypted. You may well lose all of them unfortunately. Paying the ransom is no guarantee of success. But you have a backup don’t you? You don’t?
Buying Anti-Virus
Microsoft Windows has come with anti-virus built into it since Windows 8. You therefore, do not have to buy additional software. Whilst the built-in software is not the best, it is competent enough to do the job. All anti-virus software gets beaten at some time I’ve seen it all and none of them are perfect. Do however, beware of that trial copy of McAfee that came installed on your new PC…it will stop working after the trial period, so either uninstall it or pay for it.
At the end of the day the best protection is just to be careful out there and not be so trusting. If in doubt – don’t click on it!
In most cases you’ll get your machine back as it was before but on occasion the damage can be such that I may have to re-install the operating system etc. at extra cost. If that happens I will discuss it with you.