By George Cherere
Prevention has always been said to be better than a cure and this is most definitely true with issues concerning malware and other cyber threats. Malware is often in reference to any software which has been installed on the computer remotely, knowingly and unknowingly. The intention of these pieces of software is to gather information and to also scam people off their hard earned money.
Malware was once a very big problem for Windows PCs and still is with now the problems also happening to the Apple Macs. Malware threats have been on the rise on an unprecedented scale and the reasons behind it are many. The most common malware are the Trojans, adware, backdoor, spyware, botnets, rootkits, Zombie, key loggers and worms among other forms of the malware.
The common methods through which the different types of malware are installed on a personal computer unknowingly are through disguise as other software especially so for the software which is provided as freeware. Often the download manager and file sharing applications will come with the malware. Other methods are through HTML attachments, the active x control and on websites which demand installation of software.
Once the software is installed, the damage done is either big or minimal dependent on what it has been coded to do. Some malware has no option for uninstall while others will effect changes to the computer which will demand the re-imaging of the computer which dire consequences like losing important data.
Knowing the symptoms of infection with malware is important to informing the decision to disinfect the computer or which will necessitate further checks for the rogue software. The most common signs will be the computer taking very long to start and the system performing very poorly, the browser performing in a weird manner either the home page changes to a different site without any changes whenever you try, web pages adding themselves to your list of favorites, the browser stopping and closing without warning, search results getting displayed on a totally different site, additional toolbars on the browser, advertisements opening up on the browser are just a number of the signs of malware attack.
Removing malware from a computer is a demanding process and one which has dire risks associated with these efforts. The ideal situation is the protection of a computer from malware and this will not only call for the installation of antivirus software but the adoption of other strident measures in guarding against malware attacks. The preventive measures which will act as a guarantee in guarding against the attacks. The antivirus software should be updated regularly and protection is always turned on.
The computer should always have a firewall and patches are done. Management of risk will work well to ensure that risky applications are done away with and that only safe applications are installed or used. Another preventive measure is that data is protected and managed well to prevent losses.
There are many checks and verifications in trying to prevent attacks from malware. Just like the very many malware threats lurking out there, there are a dozen of way to keep secure 99% of the malware attacks will be kept off by the practicing safety, risk management and privacy, defensive browsing and sensible use of the internet. All these are different needs which can be done at a time or at different times.
But even with these many measures, it should be remembered that even with deep security, security lapses cannot be afforded and this should be in recognition that even the best security method is not 100% failure-proof. Extra steps and a keen attention to security works to keep you a step ahead of hackers and any associated danger. It is said that any positive security step or method counts for value now and in the future. This is especially so for businesses. No level of security is intact when there is no existing plan to deal with the situation if it unfortunately arises and this is the situation of a security failure.
It goes without saying that the occurrence of an infection means that the security measures put in place have failed. Having lost this security tussle does not imply that an individual should give up but it implies that the process starts all over again this time employing new measures and tactics. This is where the plan comes in handy to limit the damage and to keep going.
There are companies which are committed to preventing the spread of computer viruses and threats, like KaspAV, a division of Guardian Network Solutions. KaspAV specializes in providing the ultimate anti-phishing solutions in order to prevent harmful types of viruses from lodging into your system and to facilitate safe web browsing
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