The Protector

How to Keep Your PC Virus Free.

by on Jul.17, 2010, under Windows XP and Vista Updates for Hardware and Software

Keeping your PC virus FREE is not hard if you have the right FREE tools and know how to use them. In this post I will explain this to you.

Most PC’s are currently infected. It is estimated that 98% of all computer issues are virus related. I can tell you that this is true. I remove virus for a living and 9 out of 10 PC that I work on or in fact infected. Many if not all of my customers do not realize that their PC came with a trial version of Norton Anti-Virus or Mcafee. The trial version is only good for 60-90 days, once it is expired your PC is not currently protected. Do you recall seeing those pop-ups and reminders that your subscription is about to expire please renew? Well if you did not renew than you are currently infected. If your are using Norton look at the lower right hand corner of your screen. Is there a red x on top of a yellow icon? Is your PC running slower than normal? Have you notice your PC not booting up as fast as it use to? Does your PC hang when you tell it to shut down? Does your PC blue screen? All of these are symptoms of an infected PC. Which can be traced back to your original Anti-Virus software that was installed at the factory. Trust me I am a doctor, a virus doctor to be exact.

So you think you are infected. So here are the free tools that I use when I remove viruses at my customers.

1. Boot to safe mode with networking.  To get to safe mode you need to reboot the PC and press the F8 key multiple times.  Select Safe mode with networking. This is the diagnostic mode.  This works with Windows XP and Windows Vista. I will add Windows 7 virus removal soon. Please subscribe to my blog by putting your email address in the subscription to the right of this blog post.  You can get my RSS feed.

2. Download this Free tool Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, click here. Install,  update and perform a full scan.  Remove anything that is found in red. Reboot, allow the PC to boot normally.  Do not press the F8 key this time.



3. Remove any old or expired Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware or any virus related removal or protection tools that your have on your PC, including AOL protection, FREE AVG, Norton, LiveUpdpate,  and any Registry tools like RegCure, etc. Reboot.

4. Install Ccleaner and run this several times.  This will clean your PC of any temporary and unused programs. Click here to get this free utility. Reboot

5. Now you need to get a good quality and reliable Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware program.  Did I mention that this is Free too. Click here.  Install and do not forget to register.  ***This is important you need to register Avast because if you do not it will expire in 30 days. Just right click on the little orange icon on the right hand side of the screen put in your name and email address after Avast is installed.***

6. If you PC is still taking to much time to startup.  You need to check your startup group.  All programs that are installed want to start when Windows start. Did your kids install LimeWire. If so it is in your startup group.  Their is no need for this and this is another reason your PC may be slower than it use to be.  Click on start, then click on All Programs, then click on Startup.  Drag any programs out of that window to your desktop or you can just delete the icon.  This will not erase your program and normally you will have another icon in the main program windows. Go ahead and reboot.

7. Now that your PC is virus free.  You need to optimize your PC.  Click here for another FREE utility that will get your hard drive working more inefficiently.  Install and tell it to defrag your hard drive. This will take 1 hour or so. Depends on the status of your hard drive.

8. If you want and need more protection and don't trust these Free program. Hear or the upgrade/professional links to the programs mention in this post.

Click here for special price on Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Protection.

Click here for special price on Click Here Today

9. Congratulation you have most likely fixed your PC saving you at least $200.00 on a PC service call or a trip to a PC shop.

10.  If your computer is still infected or it is not as fast as you need it to be you need a professional PC technician to look at your PC. The operating system may need to be reinstalled.  Reinstalling your Windows XP or Windows Vista, requires your installation CD. Most people do not get them.  If you do not have your original CD it may be on your hard drive.  However if your PC is beyond recover you will not be able to access it.  You will lose all your data which includes, all your music, videos, work documents, etc.

If you are in Austin, TX I would be happy to service your PC.  Visit me at www.adjustservices.com.

Please leave comments, all comments are welcome.

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