In late 2008 and early 2009 the vast majority of Viruses and Malware attacking personal computers has been less focused on damaging your computer and more focused on turning your computer into a slave to work for someone in a foreign country, usually without you even knowing about it.
Viruses and other types of Malware are certainly not a new phenomenon for computer owners. But with the recent surge in Malware activity, the need for a more sophisticated approach to fighting them off has emerged.
You may have heard news stories in the past few weeks about a virus called “The Conficker Virus”. Like most Malware, it originated outside of the United States. Conficker was created by hackers in Russia and has been quietly installing itself on millions of computers around the world for several months. Then it just sat there waiting for instructions from its creators. The recent panic ensued when the sleeping virus started getting its instructions from overseas and a few vigilant computer users noticed that their PCs were doing extra work that they did not authorize.
The hackers who created Conficker successfully built a worldwide army of computers that will collect information, send email, access the internet, and perform a variety of other tasks to benefit the hackers without the knowledge of the computers’ owners. The only thing that might alert many people to the presence of this infection is that their computers might work more slowly because they’re busy moonlighting, working for someone else behind the scenes.
Microsoft and most of the virus protection companies have created tools and patches to protect non-infected computers from getting Conficker. But if you already have it, or some other Malware, you probably need to take extra steps to insure that it’s completely removed and that your system is up-to-date to prevent re-infection.
Today’s viruses and Malware are highly developed, advanced programs that cleverly hide and take active measures to prevent themselves from being removed. Many of them trick your computer by installing fake versions of the patches that are designed to get rid of them. So an automatic scan of your computer might not show any problem even if the infection is there. These programs also learn to block your computer from downloading and running the tools that can be used to fight viruses. They work around software like Norton and McAfee to prevent them from getting updates and running scans.
If you’ve noticed your computer acting a little strange lately, taking much longer to perform simple tasks, unusual error messages popping up, freezing in the middle of programs, or anything else out of the ordinary, it’s possible you have some sort of Malware.
I am an expert at removing Malware, protecting your computer, recovering damaged files, and solving a variety of other computer problems. My fully equipped computer lab is set up in my house here in Towne Lake. So I can come to you or bring your computer home with me to examine and repair.
In the past few months I have removed tens of thousands of viruses and other Malware from the computers of your neighbors here in Towne Lake. I’d be very surprised if your computer doesn’t have some kind of problem that I can solve.
Please call me at 404-326-0936 and let me get your computer cleaned up and running properly so that it works only for you and not for some hacker in a foreign country.