Avoiding computer nasties

Over the last week or so I had been periodically receiving the following message while using my Windows 7 laptop “warning, potentially harmful software detected. Click here to review and take action”. I have the free versions of Avast anti-virus and Zone Alarm on my computer and as the message was not generated by either of these products I began to wonder whether my PC was infected with malware and/or a virus. A system scan with Avast detected and successfully removed a number of threats, however the above message continued to plague me. My next step was to download the free version of Spybot Search and Destroy. The scan took about 40 minutes and lead to the detection of several nasties lurking in the depths of my PC. I’ve now successfully deleted the offending malware and my computer is running much faster and just (if not more importantly) I’m no longer concerned about unauthorised persons poking about in my PC and stealing data!

I like the company who provide Spybot Search and Destroy. Unlike many companies who offer free anti-virus or malware deletion products, the manufacturer of the software provide a prominent link to the free version of Spybot Search and Destroy on their site so no digging around for the free version or accidentally downloading the paid for product. For Spybot Search and Destroy please visit http://www.safer-networking.org/.

 

(Kevin Morris is the author of The First Time. For his collection of short stories please visit the Amazon Kindle store).