An all to familiar question we receive is something to the effect of “My computer is infected with ABC virus. How do I remove it?”. There are some good websites and tools available to help users remove viruses on their own and avoid expensive trips to the computer repair shop. Now I am not saying that you will be able to remove all viruses but you will be able to make a better determination on what needs to be done before you have to take it into the shop.

The first thing that you need to find out is the name of the virus on your computer. If you keep your anti-virus solution up to date it should identify the name of the virus which has made its way into your computer. Once you have found out the name of the virus then your next step is to find out what the virus actually does. I use a very reliable site called McAfee AVERT Labs Threat Library (http://vil.nai.com/vil/default.aspx). On this page you will see a search box. When you enter information to be searched on it will not only lookup viruses but also hoaxes. For example a popular one being sent around was a message about a virus called a “virtual card”. Well if you put “virtual card” in the search box you will see the information on the hoax. This will allow you to become informed and also to inform the person who sent you the original message. Depending on the virus this page will direct you to specific tools which can be used to remove various viruses.

There are several on-line virus scanners which I use. These sites are free and offer a source to scan your computer which cannot be influenced by anything installed on your computer. One of these sites are Trend Micro’s Housecall which is available at http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ . Another one is Kaspersky’s On-Line scanner available at http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner . These scanners will identify any unfrendly programs on your system. From the information they provide then you can search for specifics on the AVERT site.

These sites are useful tools to help you identify and help to remove unwanted viruses from your system. There may be viruses that are not able to be removed by these tools which will require your computer making a trip to the repair shop. The bonus of using these tools is that you can inform the technician of what you have found to help cut down on the length of time your computer spends in the shop.

Keep in mind that the best defense is made up of a few simple things. Keep your anti-virus solution up to date by getting it to check for updates on a weekly basis. You shouldn’t open messages from people you don’t recognize. And finally be careful of what type of attachments that you open. If for example you receive a message from a friend that has an attachment but that friend never sends attachment then I would not open it. I would first contact your friend and see if they actually sent you something. It is possible that your friend’s computer is infected and is trying to get you to infect your machine. If you keep these simple things in mind it will help to keep you safe during your computer use.