Viruses and Cockroaches

Because I am in the PC repair business, I get calls every day for virus removal. Most times the person calling does not even realize that they have a virus or other bad software on their computer. The most obvious symptom of virus or malicious software infestation is that their computer runs slow. The mouse jumps. The PC won’t shutdown. It is just generally non-responsive. Or they get pop ups. These pop up displays can contain advertisements or messages saying that a virus has been found on their computer.

The pop ups I like best are the warning messages saying “Your PC is at risk of being attacked by spyware. Purchase Spyware Stormer software for only $40 to protect your PC now!” Right! This is blackmail and intimidation because you have been hit by spyware that popped up this advertisement. If you spend the $40, the Spyware Stormer software does not work because it is actually spyware. Spyware and viruses are both bad software and must be removed for a PC to function properly. Viruses are as evil as Usama Bin Laden and spyware is just unhelpful and annoying like Jacques Chirac. However, you don’t get one without the other so both must be removed.

When any of these events happen and people call me they make statements similar to “I have Norton Antivirus installed on my computer so it couldn’t possible have a virus.” Or they think that I should come out for $10 to remove just one virus. There is not just one virus. Viruses and spyware are like cockroaches. When you see one, there are several hundred more hidden in every nook and cranny on the PC. If I charged for every virus and spyware infected file I removed, I could make several hundred dollars easily. My personal best for spyware files has been over 2,400 and viruses close to that number as well.

It gets worse. Virus scanning programs are adequate for the task of preventing infection, but not up to the task by themselves or curing a virus infection. Norton or McAffee antivirus software can scan a disk drive containing viruses and see no viruses what so ever. The viruses encrypt (scramble) themselves in such a way as they are invisible to many antivirus software packages. If a drive is scanned with Norton and then McAfee or vice versa, both packages will find viruses.

Virus hunting is like pheasant hunting but more acceptable to PETA. In pheasant hunting a dog scares up the pheasants in the field so the hunter can shoot them as they fly away. Similarly, I use spyware removal software to examine every file on a disk drive and to scare up the viruses. These in turn are spotted and removed as they jump into memory by virus scanning software. This still does not completely get all viruses because there are many folders on a Windows XP PC which are secured and blocked from access. To examine these folders, the security must be removed which can be quite daunting.

Test your PC for spyware by using the counter spy site (http://www.sunbelt-software.com/dell/counterspy_scan.cfm). This tests but does not automatically remove unless you purchase the software. Try the Panda active scan to test for both viruses and spyware (http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/). The Panda test detects and removes viruses and detects spyware. Just remember, when you find one virus, there are a hundred more virus infected files hidden on your and you can not have viruses without having spyware and vice versa.