More and more users take PC security serious as hackers become more and more rampant in those years. Ransomware is the most aggressive and dangerous program. A huge number of victims lost large amount of money and precious files to ransomware corruption. What’s the best way to protect PC? Nowadays, we can conduct many activities on the Internet. When we shop, make transaction, fill form or register a service online, we provide personal information like ID number, living address, email and phone number etc. Financial information is frequently used. They are stored in your social media apps or bank clients. That makes digital life convenient. However, hackers make use of malware to steal users’ information for money. If the hackers crack your PC and account with malware, they gain access to your valuable information. It is very necessary to protect your PC. How to keep your PC free of virus? Let’s discuss it in this article.
In 2017, Internet users suffered the massive ransomware attack from Wannacry to Petya and Fireball. They were the biggest cyberattack last year, storming through the network and hitting individuals and organizations worldwide. Victims lost their important files. Some even paid the random to recover files, but it didn’t work. According to research, hackers become more and more rampant in those years. They create more and more aggressive malware to attack unprotected PC and force victims to steal financial information or demand them to pay money directly. They spread all kinds of malware and viruses everywhere they can access. If you unfortunately are attacked by malware, you need to get rid of it immediately. If the malware stays long on your system, it can send your personal and financial information to malware database, install other suspicious applications to earn per-installation revenue, or perform other tasks to grant the hackers to access and control your computer. To protect your system and money, we suggest you to safeguard your PC with a powerful security program which can protect you from any unauthorized code or software that creates a threat to the system. It is supposed to keep malware, viruses, keyloggers, Trojans and worm etc. away from your data and PC.
Some users may think that PC threat is rare thing in their life. In fact, hackers create many kinds of cyber threats like viruses, spyware, worms, Trojan horses, dishonest adware, scareware, ransomware and keyloggers etc. to make illegal money. They hide and embed viruses in many compromised programs and platforms to spread the threats widely. What are the common threats out there, risking your PC? Virus and malware are general terms used by computer experts to define software created for a malicious purpose. Based on their functions and features, they are classified in different families.
Like its name, spyware spies on victims and grabs valuable information of an individual or organization without their knowledge. The owner of spyware can be the criminals, advertiser, device carrier, ISP or government. Some of them need your personal information, browsing histories and more to improve their products. Some of them need to monitor Internet users so as to know what’s happening to make things under control. They don’t harm your data or get money from you, but they invade your privacy. The criminals can use your personal information to do illegal things to make money.
Ransomware is a huge threat for both home and business users. After the ransomware is installed, it scans and encrypts your important files in the background. Most victims didn’t notice its existence before it completed its evil task. Once it finishes encrypting the files, it appears on your screen. It informs you that your files are encrypted, offering instructions for how to pay the ransom and get your files back. Please note that there is no guarantee you will take you data back after paying the ransom. After all, they are criminals. What you need to do is to remove the ransomware immediately to avoid more loss. As the hackers use long bit of encryption key as well as double encryption, it is very difficult or impossible to recover your data. Therefore, we suggest you back up important files regularly.
Trojan virus is a type of malware. The cyber-thieves and hackers make use of it to gain access to victims’ systems and steal money. You may be tricked by some malicious social engineering into downloading and executing Trojans on systems. This kind of virus is able to corrupt registry, delete data, drop malicious files, modify settings, block firewall & security software and disrupt the performance of computers or networks. It performs activities secretly and you won’t notice it until it damages your system obviously. This virus is difficult to detect and remove. It can be reinstalled after you use system security tool to remove it. It is not aggressive, but difficult to handle.
Keylogger software includes the riskiest threat to computer security because it is able to collects each keystroke victims make and store it in a log file. According to computer experts, it can grab instant messages, email, account IDs and even passwords. If you always use banking and online bill-pay information online, they hackers can steal all of your money after they get your account and password.
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attack is a kind of computer security vulnerability, injecting malicious scripts into web pages viewed by others. It also is known as clickjacking and code injection. When you get this infection, it is able to access your sensitive data, browsing histories, personal information and more by corrupting the client-side security of browser. In plain words, it pretends to be a famous website with high reputation to trick you into granting it access to your information.
Some viruses are very aggressive. They show themselves on your screen after installing on the PC. However, many types of viruses sneak into your system and damage your device silently to prevent being removed until they get what they want from you. In this case, how do you know you are infected?
If your PC is infected, you may see popup ads, notification and alert start popping up everywhere. Scary warnings about virus or system error appear frequently. In this case, you should confirm which application delivers the warning. If it is an unknown application which was not installed by you, it can be a piece of rogue software. If your browser homepage is replaced by unknown one and you have been redirected to suspicious websites again and again, you may get browse hijacker, malicious scripts infection or adware. You may not be able to run some applications and get error like “This Application is corrupted and can’t run normally.” Sometime, you even can’t run the security software. Your PC will become slower and slower. It may get frozen for no reason. After your PC is compromised, phishing posts may appear on your social media account. Some malware are able to crack your account and post article with attractive title like “OMG. You won’t believe that.” to trick others into clicking it. Users who fall for the fake and click the link will become this malware’s next victims. If you got ransomware, it locks your screen and demands a ransom. To scare users into paying fine, it pretends to be government agency like FBI or encrypts your important files. Do not trust the warning. The FBI lock screen is the ransomware. Once you see any issue we mentioned above, your PC may be infected and you need to scan your PC thoroughly. If any threat is detected, get rid of it immediately.
The virus and malware are very tricky. They take advantage of any vulnerability within application software that’s running on your PC to gain access to your system. Especially for those who love streaming videos and playing online games, they need to download frequently. The viruses seize any chance to access your system. When you download free software from unknown websites, malware can be installed alongside. When you click on nasty popup, it can be redirected to dangerous website to download malware. When you click on link or open attachment in a spam, you can bring malware embedded in them. Everything happens so fast and you can’t stop it in time. So, how to protect your PC from virus and malware? Install a powerful antivirus program.
Your PC may be protected by Windows Defender, but we need to tell you that it is not enough. The viruses are changing all the time. If you always make payment, deal with business case and use confidential information on PC, you need extra protection. The leading antivirus products are equipped with advanced technology. The security team pays close attention to the malware and analyzes them to deliver the best solution. Once they detect new malware, they add it in their database and offers related pack to their antivirus client so as to assist their users to block new threat effectively. The security software scans incoming emails for phishing links & dangerous attachment. Any USB drive plugged in your PC will be scanned for threat. It also blocks attacks at network level to prevent any malware from being downloaded and installed. Antivirus program helps you identify malicious popups, links, software and network, so you will be able to avoid them easily. How to secure your PC? Get a reliable antivirus program. It will give your PC an all-round protection and you can conduct activities at peaceful mind.
You may be in a panic for getting malware infection. Especially when you are attacked by the fake FBI ransomware, you may believe it is real and pay the random as it requires. Even though you get report about Trojan virus, you don’t know how to get started. There are two effective way to remove malware. On one hand, you are suggested to download a useful antivirus application. Some viruses are very stubborn, and you won’t be able to remove it by using Windows Defender or other built-in security tool. Besides, it is necessary to pick the right one because not all security products have the ability to remove the virus. Kaspersky Lab, Norton, McAfee, Panda Security and MacKeeper etc. are recommended due to their high detecting rate and advanced malware protection. Some products remove the malware automatically after detecting it. Some products quarantine malicious files and offers option to repair the corrupted files and then delete malware. Some products quarantine malware and wait for your order to end it. If you can’t access the system due malware infection, security product offer a free rescue disk, typically in the form of an ISO file that you burn to a CD. You can access your files as well as delete malware completely. On the other hand, you can remove the malware manually. After booting the system in safe mode, locate the nasty files and remove them one by one. This method suits users who have rich experience in virus removal because it requires certain computer skill. If you remove system files or execute wrong command, it will cause vital error. If you still want to remove malware manually, contact the computer for tech support. So far, ransomware infection is the toughest case to handle because the ransomware encrypts the same folder of documents multiple times. That makes it very difficult or even impossible to perform that decryption. The antivirus software will eliminate the ransomware, but no product can decrypt the corrupted files so far. To avoid data loss, we suggest you back up data and protect your PC well.
Major Features of Security Software
Some viruses can spread when users launch the compromised program while worm can spread without any help. You can’t detect them with your naked eyes. Advanced security software does great job in detect any threat that may harm users’ PC. Expert teams of security companies monitor malware’s behavior and utilize signature-based detection to block known and new threat effectively. The behavior-based detection specifically is used to stop ransomware. The great antivirus software is able to detect a suspicious process attempting file encryption. Once encryption process is detected, it automatically backs up the file and keeps monitoring it. If it detects that multiple encryption attempts in rapid succession, it quarantines the applications and inform the victims. After that, it offers to restore the backed-up files, so you won’t lose your precious files. The ability of detection is very important because malware can do irreversible damage to your system and files. It is a very important factor when selecting a security program. Most antivirus software assists users to back up files regularly to avoid data loss due to virus infection, system crash or other issues. Users can get parental control from security product. It helps users filter improper content like porn, alcohol, violence and video games etc. Users are allowed to set which websites they can access and which they can’t view. It prevents kids from revealing financial detail and other sensitive information to scammers. Security product is not simply a tool to fight against virus and malware, but also a useful application to protect your kids, data, privacy and more.
Tips to Prevent Viruses
Viruses and malware are very tricky. They disguise themselves and sneak into your system silently. Here are some tips to prevent infection in daily life. Firstly, you need to keep Windows up to date because hackers never stop trying to discover new ways to bypass Windows’ built-in security features. After they exploit system bug, they use the latest virus to attack your PC. Secondly, turn on the system firewall to block unrequested inbound traffic, exploits, and bad data packets etc. How to turn of firewall? Open Windows Firewall by clicking the Start button. Next, click Control Panel and type firewall in the search box. Click Windows Firewall. In the left pane, click Turn Windows Firewall on. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation to move forward. Finally, click Turn on Windows Firewall under each network location that you want to give firewall protection, and then click OK. It’s done.
Thirdly, keep your applications up to date as no software can be perfect and any software can contain bug. Hackers are quick to make use of bug and create bogus websites with data designed to exploit them. Fourthly, never fall for phishing emails. You may receive spam every day. Some of them may carry virus or link to malicious websites. The hackers pretend to be the famous shipping company and trick you into offering personal information to receive non-exist package. After you send them the information, they can grab money from your account. Therefore, do not trust email from unknown sender. Fifthly, you are suggested to use a popup blocker for your browser. Most ransomware victims were attacked after they clicked on unknown popup. You might want to click on it, but it just forced you to download something when you tried to close it. The popup blocker will stop those malicious programs from appearing on your screen. Sixthly, do not visit suspicious websites. You need to be very carefully when visiting porn, streaming, gaming or torrent websites because they are the platforms that hackers would like you place malware. Do not download software, movie or music from unknown websites. Last but not least, safeguard your PC and accounts from intruders by creating passwords that are hard to crack. Your password is supposed to include at least eight characters in a combination of letters, numbers and special characters. If you have difficult in managing passwords, install a password manager and it will take care of your passwords and accounts.
Kaspersky Lab is one of the best antivirus services founded in 1997. This company not only has long history in security industry, but also has a great team which is made up of top security advisors from Europe, Russia, North and South America, Asia, and the Middle East. Kaspersky Lab does great job in preventing and removing both known and unknown Ransomware, Trojan virus, Worm and spyware etc. It offers parental control, password manager, data backup and more features to wait for you to discover.
Norton by Symantec is a reliable security service with high reputation throughout the world. It delivers effective security solution to protect laptops, desktops, Mac computers, and servers in your network against malware such as viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware and adware. You will be able to avoid sophisticated attacks that evade traditional security measures such as rootkits and zero-day attacks with Norton protection. Besides, Norton offers antivirus features alongside with the implements of Defrag, Startup Manager and PC Tuneup, data backup, password manager and anti-theft.
McAfee is a world leading security company which is made up of a group of experts with professional knowledge and rich experience. It delivers security products to safeguard users against various cyber threats like Ransomware, spyware, Trojan, Worm, browser hijacker and more. Their security products come with parental control, password manager, malicious app protection, app privacy protection, app lock, memory cleanup and more.
Panda Security is a Spanish company that specializes in creating products for IT security. This service is available in more than 23 languages, for more than 30 million users, in 190 countries worldwide. Initially centered on creating antivirus software, this company has expanded its line of business to advanced cybersecurity services with technology for preventing cybercrime.
Do you suffer a flood of ads? Do you get stuck by PC frozen, Blue Screen of Death or system crash? Does your PC run slower and slower? Are you getting weird notifications, system alerts or virus warnings? Are there some unknown programs that start automatically during startup? If have any of those problems, your PC is infected. Some viruses are created to damage your system. Some are made to corrupt your PC for valuable information. Some are developed to steal your money. Some are designed to spy on you and collect personal information. To make money, the hackers spread virus anywhere. You may download virus accidentally anytime. To protect your PC from virus and malware, you need to install a powerful security program. Scan your PC for threat with the help of antivirus. The antivirus software will block malware, phishing links & files and more harmful programs before they can access your system. If any virus is detected on your PC, it quarantines related files to prevent more damage and then get rid of them completely. The hackers release new virus and malware every day, so keep your antivirus software updated all the time. As we mentioned, we recommend Kaspersky Lab, Norton, McAfee, Panda Security and MacKeeper based on our antivirus test results. If you still have any problem in protecting PC from virus and malware, welcome to contact experts for help.
Published by & last updated on February 13, 2019 7:52 am
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