Malware Removal Could Be the Toughest Computer Repair Job

1. Computer owners are often shocked at the price of computer repair services to clean up a virus or other malware. Are you in those shoes? What you may not understand is how difficult this process can be compared to many other computer services. Ask most computer technicians and network engineers what they dread more, a computer virus or a hardware failure. Most of them will tell you the computer virus. When you have a hardware failure the options for repair are usually straight forward. You diagnose the parts which have failed. You get the replacement parts. You install them and correct any software or data issues which resulted from the failure. Malware Removal Could Be the Toughest Computer Repair Job

3. The Most Unpredictable Type of Repair With a computer virus you are usually looking at unknown factors. Is it a single virus? Are there other malware programs involved? Has data been lost or compromised? Will the system require a clean reload of the operating system, applications and data? Is the data safe to restore, or is it infected with the virus? When facing a computer repair job involving a virus a simple scan and clean offered by most antivirus programs is often not enough. Malware programmers have reached a level of expertise where they can often hide their code and disable functionality of antivirus programs. If your computer is infected with a virus, especially a business PC, it is critical you allow someone with expertise review the system. Use Multiple Detection Methods You will discover most skilled computer repair specialists and network engineers will not scan a system with a single program, but will choose to use several programs. Most times they will select a program they can run from a bootable CD to avoid the virus activating and blocking their tests. The time it takes to properly scan, remove, and restore a system can take hours of labor time. This does not include the additional hours of time the PC will sit on the service bench as it deep scans for the virus or malware. You may believe you are safe from this problem since you have recent backups, but are you? To be secure your backup would need to be from a time before the virus infection occurred. The data should be scanned as it is restored to make sure you do not restore the virus onto the system, even if you did a clean system reload.

4. Avoid Trouble Before it Strikes • There are a few things you can do to reduce your risk and be prepared for fast computer repair if it does happen. This includes: • Keep your antivirus program up to date. • Use only high quality AV programs. • Backup data regularly. • Scan your PC for malware on a regular basis. (Weekly is recommended.) • Do not download programs from untrusted sources. • Do not click links in emails, instant messages, and other forms of communication that you were not expecting to receive. • If you become infected with malware or a virus, contact a qualified computer repair company to help you recover quickly. You will quickly discover the cost is very low compared to the expensive cost of lost work time you would face otherwise.