Virus & Spyware Removal

There are many viruses and other nasties lurking around in the wilderness of the web, especially for Windows machines which the bulk are written for.
Each time you surf the web, download a file or open an email you can put your computer system at risk of infection, and sometimes this does happen.
Understanding the basics of these nasties will go a long way towards protecting your computer better.

The most common you may hear about are the worm and the trojan, although these are not actually classified as a virus, the line on this has blurred considerably due to the increased use of the internet, email, instant messaging and file sharing.
As the names suggests a worm, much like the real counterpart, works its way through your computer as a real worm works its way through soil, except a computer worm is self replicating and can leave a trail of destruction in its wake.
A trojan bears the name of the famous trojan horse from the story of the city of Troy, like the worm, its name gives you an insight to how this virus acts.
The actual virus is contained within a file, notably executable files, which an unsuspecting user downloads and then runs on their computer which releases the virus.
The virus may be hidden once released and only run when the executable file is run.

The security threat to your computer can be high or low depending on the destructiveness of the virus, a good way to keep a check on this and other threat information is to use the Computer Associates Global Security Advisor service, you will find a link in the right hand column of this website which will take you there.
Couple this with Computer Associates Anti virus software or their security suite, which 98% of Fortune 500 companies rely on, will help you protect your computer.
Amagosa Computer Services can provide you with this software and help with installation and setup if you require it.

You may also have heard the terms, spyware and malware, again like the names suggests spyware is software which can infect your computer to spy on you usage of your computer or change settings that affect your computers performance, a good example of this is browser hijacking.
Spyware can lead to attacks on your computer and the loss of sensitive data like bank account information.
Malware which is malicious software is designed to infiltrate your computer without your consent for the purpose of destruction. Today this is the general term used for all viruses, worms, trojans and root kits that have the express purpose of damaging your computer.

Amagosa Computer Services provides removal services for these nasties, and we can tutor you on behavior to help protect your computer from these threats.
While every attempt will be made to clean an infected computer, if the system is compromised by large amounts of malware including root kits, it may be necessary to reformat the hard drive.
Please be aware that if a reformat has to be performed, all data on the hard drive will be lost, if you require backups of data which you do not want to lose, we can help you with this for a minimal charge.
Amagosa Computer Services will contact you if this is required.

If you have any questions, you can Contact Us or phone us direct on (03) 5986 1895.