Virus removal: Learn from user experiences and tech experts

VIRUS – the word that has been made popular by Computers and the Internet, makes your experience with the same so utterly wretched that you tend to associate the term with all unwanted stuff in your life. The term has become common to our lives to such an extent that probably you will associate it even with an acquaintance with whom you may not gel well. Once it affects your computer or the network, a virus can indeed make your life miserable. Immediate virus removal is the only solution that can pull you out of a mess such as this one. All those sadist devils, in a word VIRUS, waiting right there for one scope to squeeze away the sanctity from your life and put you in never ending sort of a trouble, deserve to be eliminated through malware removal applications or services.

iYogi conducted interviews with computer users and tech experts to know how people were affected by viruses, their experiences of virus removal, and what technicians had to say about malware, virus protection and ways to get rid of viruses.

Excerpts of interviews with virus-wary people in which they share their experiences of computer virus removal:

Max Cooper, a retired librarian in Alabama: "Virus removal !! Well sometime back I did not even know what a computer virus meant. A month ago my laptop became blue. I mean what you call this the blue screen error. My 15-year-old grandson, a smart kid that he is, told me the error may have been caused by a virus. He said, Grandpa!, just give your 'blue' laptop to me and I will fix it. I don't know what he did; he worked on the computer for around an hour using some CDs marked as 'antivirus' on them. When he returned my laptop to me it was working. Before I could say anything, he said, Grandpa, don't ask anything. I have just fixed your Windows PC using a virus removal program."

Samantha Jones, a housewife in New York: "The other day, my shopaholic instincts were again doing the rounds. As usual, I was surfing the shopping websites in search of a perfect gift for my dear husband's birthday. Suddenly the browser started acting strange, even stranger than the way my housemaid sometimes behaves. Advertisements started popping up, and I attempted to close the windows. I understood that there could have been a virus intrusion into my Windows-based PC. But at the same time I wasn't quite sure about fixing my Windows-based PC by using virus, spyware, and adware removal procedures. To get rid of viruses, I had to opt for an online virus removal service".

Richard Thomas, a high school student in Florida: "Often when I search for and play online fighter games with hi-fi graphics and cool weapons to choose from, I have come across websites that are categorized as malicious by the browser. I feel like using a trendy gun from one of the games and shoot people who create malicious websites and viruses. I remember once the Windows Vista operating system of my laptop was hijacked by malware. I had come across the PC Tune Up application and installed it. It detected the status of my antivirus and suggested an updated version. I renewed the antivirus and protected my Windows Vista-based laptop by following the Trojan and virus removal procedure as directed by the security software, and my online gaming continued".

Robert Levens, a stockbroker in Washington: "The world almost collapsed on my shoulders when there was a volatile stock trading session at the New York Stock Exchange. I had to process several of my clients' orders for purchasing and selling stocks through an online portal. The clients had stipulated trigger points for buying, holding or selling stocks. But my Windows XP-based laptop was running abnormally slow and I was unable to trade. My clients, and of course me, were at risk of losing thousands of dollars. I scanned my laptop with an antivirus. While the stocks kept rising and falling, the antivirus scan detected more than 30 virus threats. With the detection of viruses, I just kept pressing the 'Remove' button. Well that was some experience of fixing my Windows XP-based PC by virus removal and saving my clients' money."

Excerpts of interviews with tech experts in which they offer information on viruses, modes of virus infection, virus scan and removal:

Ted Harris, a tech specialist in New York: "Malware refers to hostile software and program codes that can disrupt the functioning of an operating system. Spyware is a type of malware that can lead to unauthorized access to system resources and leak confidential personal information. You may be downloading a program from the Internet, and quite unexpectedly, you would not even come to know when spyware infects your system. I have come across several instances where people unknowingly install spyware along with the installation of other software. I would suggest that people should install proper virus and spyware removal software."

Lance Taylor, a programmer in Connecticut: "There are several antivirus applications available in the market that can be used to clean virus from a computer. Before installing an antivirus, make sure that the program is compatible with your computer. I would recommend periodically scanning a PC with an antivirus. Online virus removal programs can also be used for malware and spyware protection. People who think that just installing an antivirus is enough for PC virus removal are wrong. It is important to update the security software on a regular basis to fix virus issues".

Michael Lewis, a technician in Alaska: "Several people call me up to get support for fixing computer issues and virus removal. I think most of the tech issues are caused by ignorance on the part of users. They don't come to know that the antivirus installed on their system is not enabled or is outdated. Similarly, if the operating system is not up-to-date, there is risk of computer freezing and security threats. To avoid these problems, I recommend computer users to install PC Tune Up on their systems. It is a free application that diagnoses various computer issues. PC Tune Up scans a computer and displays the status of the antivirus, antispyware, firewall, browser settings, system memory, Internet speed, presence of junk files, registry errors, and more. The program also helps in reverting the computer to a restore point. So it is all that one needs for ensuring an error-free and fast performance of a computer".