In these articles I usually concentrate on protecting your computer from various Internet threats.  But you should know a bit about how to react to and recover from a virus or hacker attack.   

First, how do you know if you have been attacked?  Well, your home page may change without warning, your computer may run slowly, the drive light will blink when you are not doing anything, or your computer will reboot suddenly, for no reason.  Or, of course, your computer may simply crash. 

The best first step is probably to disconnect from the Internet at once, especially if you have sensitive information on your machine.  Even if you do not, the malware may be using your computer to send out a flood of spam, or to infect other computers. 

Now check your user accounts.  The attacker may have upgraded your limited accounts to Administrator permissions, to facilitate access to your machine.   

Also, launch your Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and click the Processes tab.  Look for any strange programs that are running.  Malware names may be similar to familiar ones, so look carefully. Next, run your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, until they come up clean.  Reboot your PC.  Reconnect to the Internet, and update all your security programs including Windows.  Run all the scans once again.   

If you still have problems, reboot into safe mode, and run all the scans yet again.  Get and use a firewall and a HOSTS file, and keep everything up to date without fail. 

Now that your system is clean, do this:  After installing new software, run all your security scans to ensure the new program is malware-free.   

Minimize your use of toolbars and browser extensions; they may compromise the integrity and security of your browser.  And finally, use common sense on the web, and think before you click! 

Syd Tash is a noted computer security consultant and author of How to Protect Your Computer Online.  He has been keeping Internet surfers safe and secure since the last century.  Find out how he does it; protect your own computer with five layers of protection right here:  => http://MyPCSecuritySite.com  

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