prevention against computer threats and corrupted system files

INTRODUCTION AND ISSUE

All the services, links and programs listed in this article are free of chrage.

It is strongly discouraged to use a pirated vesrion of windows ( or any other computer software )

A strange action in your computer ? suspicious file disappearances? Application that close or open by themselves ? probably the work of a virus or an altered system file . follow the steps below :) 

1- UNINSTALLING PROGRAMS 

If you have recently installed a program and strange things have been happening since then, the firste thing to do is to uninstall it. if the uninstallation fails then try it again in safe mode by pressing F8 before loading windows (you will see a menu appear with different boot options, just choose safe mode. if you do not see the menu , repeat the procedure by pressing like a string several times in a row before loading). 

2- ONLINE ANTIVIRUS SCANNING 

If there is an online anti-virus that I recommend it is HouseCall from Trend Micro. This service is used by Microsoft for Hotmail or internally and is therefore quite well known (you can also use the online utility of Panda Software but, at the latest news, you have to pay for the disinfection).

Go to http://housecall.trendmicro.com and launch an online analysis. Wait until the end and follow the instructions for the final cleaning.

3- ANTI-SPYWARE ANALYSIS

After the anti-virus scan, nothing beats a small anti-spyware scan. Use Windows Defender and Ad-aware: in parallel it is a very efficient set

4- CLEANING

After all these analyses, a little cleaning would be welcome. Equip yourself with the CCleaner utility by following this tutorial: Install CCleaner, clean the computer and repair the registry

5- REPAIR OF THE SYSTEM

Once all this is done (or not!), you need to make sure that the system is clean again. The last step is to scan and repair corrupted or modified system files using the sfc /scannow command.

Note: the command is available under Windows XP and Vista. You must have an installation cd to run the command under Windows XP (Vista seems to have an internal library).

6- RESTART YOUR PC

To take into account all this little spring cleaning, restart your computer. You can also redo scans to check if it is healthy.

7- PREVENTION

Let's move on to prevention, now that you've frightened yourself (or lost data) you want to protect yourself ("get out covered"). The first prevention is undoubtedly the user's vigilance: do not execute anything anywhere. The second prevention would be to install a reliable anti-virus

Finally, the last prevention would be to back up your data regularly and in isolation from the rest of the system!