Monday, July 16, 2007

The Best Way To Remove A Trojan From Your System

Most people who have been using a computer for awhile, and many new computer users as well, are all too familiar with the concept of the computer virus. It seems that computer viruses have been around for as long as computers themselves, and every new technological advance seems to bring with it a new rash of computer security problems. One of the most persistent threats to computer users is the Trojan horse virus, and unfortunately it is not always easy to remove a Trojan once it has implanted itself on your PC.

Taking the first step
The first step toward removing a Trojan horse, of course, is to know it is there in the first place. Trojan horse viruses are notoriously tricky and they are often difficult to detect. That is but one more reason why it is so vital to keep your anti virus protection, firewall software and spyware detection tools up to date. New threats are constantly being unearthed, and as solutions are found they are posted to the various companies' web sites in the form of updates. Most computer protection products provide users with an easy way to get these automatic updates, and every computer owner should take the time to turn these automatic updates on.

Of course keeping the software updated is not enough to protect yourself and to remove a Trojan you may have. It is also important to schedule a daily scan of your entire computer, using your anti virus software and your spyware removal tools. These daily scans can help you quickly spot potential problems and eliminate them right away. If you do find a virus on your system, the maker of your software should be able to provide detailed instructions on the best way to remove the Trojan or email virus from your system. Different forms of virus have different removal procedures, and most anti virus software companies make the process easy by providing automated tools that are meant to remove the Trojan from everywhere it has implanted itself.

After the cure
Any time a Trojan horse or other type of virus is found, it is a good practice to reboot your computer after it has been cleaned. That is because some viruses, particularly so called back door Trojans, have the ability to hide out and start each time the PC is restarted. Running the scan again after rebooting is the best way to make sure that you have successfully removed the Trojan from your computer.

In order to prevent a recurrence, it is important to download any patches and updates to your operating system. Most computers are built months ahead of time, and by the time they are received and set up by the buyer than can be dangerously out of date. When connecting a new computer to the internet, it is important to update the anti virus software, and to download any updates to the operating system as quickly as possible. Doing so is the best defense against the malicious software that can lurk on the internet.

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