This article takes a generalised approached to removing nuisance Trojan/virus/malware from your computer. The author takes no responsibility for you trashing your computer as a result of the advice on this web page, and assumes you have an intermediate knowledge level of the Windows operating system.

Recently I have had the pleasure of disinfecting many computers with stubborn viruses that refuse to go away with the usual methods (e.g. opening your anti-virus programme and clicking scan). The “deep rooted” ones, as I like to call them, can be more problematic.

There are lots of different symptoms, one problem you may face is fake/scam anti-virus programmes that will pop-up as soon as you open your Internet browser (or sometimes opening any executable (.exe) file) and prevent you from viewing other websites until you have paid. I can’t stress how important it is NOT to pay. No real anti-virus programme would force you to pay so you could “get on the web”.

So, how do we remove these pests?

Here are some steps you could follow to fix the problem.

(These steps presume you can logon and see the Windows desktop, if not please go straight to step 4)

1. Restart your computer and constantly tap the F8 key until you get the boot menu and select: “Safe Mode with Networking”

2. Once the Windows desktop has loaded click Start -> Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Click the “Connections” tab -> Click the “LAN Settings” button. Under the “Proxy Server” heading, if the “Use a proxy server for your LAN” is checked then click the “Advanced” button. Look at the HTTP item, if the address is “localhost” or “127.0.0.1” then you may be infected. To test this go back and uncheck the “Use a proxy server for your LAN”. Then try and connect to the Internet. If all is OK and you can browse the web then go to the list of anti-virus programmes below.

If opening any programme invokes a fake anti-virus pop-up then your.exe file association needs to be fixed. If your operating system is XP then you can download a.reg file to set it back to default here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/950505/when-you-run-an-.exe-file-on-a-windows-xp,-windows-vista-or-windows-7-based-computer,-the-file-may-start-a-different-program

3. If none of the above works and you still can’t access websites, then you may need to remove the hard drive from the infected computer and “dock” it with another computer for analysis. You can then scan the external drive for viruses (see list of anti-virus programmes below). You can also load registry files from the docked drive. So if your docked drive is F: Try the following:

Click Start -> Run -> type “regedit” and press OK. Then expand “My Computer” (if it isn’t already) and click the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key so it is highlighted. Then you need to load the registry hive from your docked drive. So click File -> Load Hive, then navigate to your registry files, they will be situated F:WINDOWSsystem32config. If your docked drive is using a different letter then replace F: with your docked drive letter. See the list of possible infected registry keys below.

LIST OF ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAMMES AND ROGUE SOFTWARE REMOVAL TOOLS

I usually install three or four different virus scanners from the list below to ensure that all Viruses/Trojans/Malware are discovered and removed.

Here is my order of priority:

1. Malwarebytes

2. AVG Free

3. Microsoft Security Essentials

4. Trend Housecall – free on-line virus scan

5. Bitdefender – free on-line virus scan

Another tool that can show everything that starts-up on your computer is Hijackthis.

IMPORTANT XP REGISTRY KEYS THAT CAN BECOME INFECTED

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun

** Programmes within these keys are loaded at start-up **

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.exe

** This key can be changed to load the virus every time a programme is started **

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWinlogonUserinit

** This key value should be “C:WINDOWSsystem32userinit.exe,”

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWinlogon Shell

** This key value should be “Explorer.exe”

The Zika virus is essentially transmitted to people when one is bit by an infected mosquito mostly found in tropical regions. The virus is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. The virus belongs to the same family as Chikungunya, Dengue, Yellow fever and West Nile. However, unlike some of the aforementioned viruses, there is currently no vaccine that can be used to prevent or even treat the infection. Until recently, Zika was largely an obscure virus confined to Asia and Equatorial Africa.

The virus was first discovered in the year 1947 when a handful of scientists making a study of the Yellow fever in the Zika forest Uganda stumbled on a virus hitherto unknown. The scientists made the discovery of the unknown virus at the time in a feverish rhesus monkey. Fast forward to the year 1958 and it was discovered that the virus was mainly transmitted or spread through the bite of the aggressive Aedes mosquito though it can also be spread sexually.

The major cause of concern about the virus is its peculiar and alarming connection to microcephaly. Microcephaly is essentially a neurological disorder resulting to newborns spotting an abnormally smaller head. The resultant effect is of cause severe developmental issues and in extreme circumstances, death. From November 2015, Brazil alone has registered 4180 cases of microcephaly in babies born to women that acquired the virus during pregnancy. This is a far cry to the meager 146 cases that were registered in the year 2014.

How the Zika virus is spread

Transmission of the Zika virus is primarily through the Aedes mosquito. The virus is transmitted when the Aedes mosquito bites a person with an active infection and thereafter spreading it through biting other people. The symptoms of the virus are not severe but mild and include possible pink eye, fever, headache as well as a rash. In fact, up to 80% of individuals infected with the virus never have an idea that they are infected.

What you can do to protect yourself against Zika

Considering the fact that there exists no vaccine or treatment for the Zika virus, the only way to protect oneself from the virus is through taking preventative measures. For starters, you can desist from travelling to areas with an active infestation. Secondly, you should avoid mosquito bites by sleeping under a mosquito net. Thirdly, make it a habit to wear long sleeved shirts as well as long pants that are thick enough to prevent a mosquito bite. Fourthly, ensure that you sleep in lodgings with screened windows and air conditioned rooms. If you are already infected from the virus, the best way to keep people around you safe is through taking measures not to be bitten by a mosquito.

What is being done to stop Zika?

Efforts to create a Zika vaccine have taken center stage with researchers doing everything in their power to ensure that the Zika virus is a thing of the past. However, until there is a breakthrough, it is important for people to implement conventional mosquito control techniques such as emptying standing water which is a fertile mosquito breeding ground, sleeping under nets as well as spraying pesticides.

These days it is not safe to use your computer without installing one of the programs for virus protection. Threats can appear from anywhere. They are certainly present all over the internet, but can just as easily be caught by inserting an infected disc into your system.

A virus is a piece of software written deliberately to enter your computer and damage your data. It might even prevent your computer from starting up. Typically, it attaches itself to another program and replicates itself as it tries to infect as many files as possible.

Examples of such software are macro viruses and logic bombs. Logic bombs are triggered to do damage when a specific program is executed. Macro viruses infect documents run by programs that use macros.

There are many different types of viral infection, but probably the best known are worms and Trojans. Worms use computer networks and security holes to reproduce independently, without needing to attach themselves to another piece of software. Trojans are destructive programs and disguise themselves as safe ones. They don’t reproduce themselves, but can crash your system or erase files on the hard drive.

These infections can enter your system in three ways. Firstly, via a disk drive, when you insert an infected disk or CD, secondly, via files downloaded from the internet, and thirdly as an email attachment. Whichever way they get in, they can cause untold havoc and damage to your system and data.

Installing anti-virus software can prevent all these things happening to you. There are many different ones available on the market, and you need to study their specifications to decide which is the right one for you. While you can get expensive ones that appear to cover every eventuality, you can also download free ones which, while not being as comprehensive, can certainly do a more than adequate job for most home users. I am glad that all the spyware, adware and Trojan viruses on my computer are all gone now all thanks high quality software which I downloaded.

A common and famous malicious browser hijacking virus is the Click Potato virus. If you haven’t downloaded and installed the best antivirus software on your computer, this virus can install itself on to your system without you even knowing about it. By the time you figure out something is wrong, it’s over. Once it gets in to your hard drive it then starts harassing you with pop-up ads for a variety of different products. This one can be very hard to get rid of since it’s so closely tied to the browser. To learn how to remove this program, please continue reading.

Click Potato is a program that will start a constant stream of pop-up ads once it’s in your system, rendering your computer virtually unusable. The ads that will pop up are fake ads so be very careful not to click on any of these and use your credit card to try to buy them or you will have your credit card information stolen. It will also slow down and disrupt most, if not all, of your basic Windows functions and produce error messages.

This one can be a bit of a challenge to remove and most people don’t know the right way of getting rid of it. Again, if you have the best antivirus software for your needs, then you’ll likely not experience this problem and that is the preferred outcome. But if you have already gotten infected then it is important to understand that this isn’t like a regular virus. It is considered as malware, so besides downloading and running the best antivirus that you can find, you will probably also need a specific program to remove the Click Potato virus. The process of removing it is to simply stop all the activity from the program and then through your removal program get rid of it for good.

You can also manually remove it if you’re an expert or advanced user. If this is how you want to proceed then boot in to safe mode and stop all activities of the Click Potato program. Then just locate and delete all files and folders that have anything at all to do with the Click Potato. When finished, make sure to keep yourself safe by researching and downloading the best antivirus program you can find.

One of the best ways to get rid of this virus is to download a program called “Frontline Rogue Remover.” This program will go through your computer, find and delete all files and settings that have anything to do with the Click Potato virus so you will get rid of everything all at once. But I cannot stress enough that if you don’t want this to happen to you again in the future, then you should always have the best antivirus program updated and running on your computer to keep all of your information safe.

Sceptical About the HSV Eraser Program? Read on…

If you suffer from the Herpes Simplex Virus then you may have been skeptical when you saw this article about erasing the virus permanently. Up until now, all you have heard was that there is no cure for herpes. Please keep an open mind and read on before you make any determination of the validity of this system.

If you have herpes you have had to deal with the feeling of being humiliated about having sores on your face, nose, mouth or genitals. You have had to deal with the itching, burning and painful blisters. Possibly the worse is the fear that you could transmit this disease to someone else. Instead of having to deal with these issues, following the HSV Eraser program could actually end your battle with herpes. The program takes less than 3 weeks to complete. It works for both HSV-1 and HSV-2 and like over 25,000 men and women have already found out, this natural treatment can completely destroy every trace of the herpes virus.

There are two types of herpes – HSV-1 and HSV -2. There are assumptions in society that the cause of cold sores comes from HSV-1, the “good” herpes virus and HSV-2 is the “bad” herpes virus since it is associated to genital herpes. Both types are transmitted through contact with the mucosal areas of the body (i.e. the mouth and the genitals) and then establish latency in the nervous system. Approximately 65% of those infected with herpes have no symptoms or symptoms so mild that they don’t even notice them. Even without noticeable symptoms, outbreaks can recur and the infection can be spread.

As you are infected with herpes, the virus worms its way into your body and conceals itself. Some people don’t have an initial outbreak and others don’t have any symptoms at all. This makes HSV different than other infections because symptoms such as a fever are produced with other viruses which our immune system is able to recognise as infection and this aids our body in attempting to fight off the infection. In the case of HSV, the body isn’t receiving any notification and as such isn’t equipped to fight it off.

Because the HSV virus is cloaked in the cells of your body by a protein called ICP47, current medications can’t find the virus in order to fight it and so they merely suppress the virus.

Dr. Christine Buehler, a clinical researcher for one of the top rated Medical Colleges in the U.S., contracted both HSV-1 and HSV-2 herself. She found that the herpes medications ease and mask the symptoms but they do not cure herpes. In order to find out information about the disease and to seek advice about how to deal with her own health issue, she consulted with her former professor and mentor, Dr. Ken Languin, an expert in human pathology and an authoritative researcher on sexually transmitted diseases.

Dr. Buehler couldn’t accept that up until now no one had ever looked into “un-hiding” the virus so that the body’s immune system could zero in and destroy the virus subsequently following her consultation with Dr. Languin and her extensive research, she created this program.

The HSV Eraser program shows you how to enable the body to uncloak ICP47 proteins from the infected cells of your body so that the herpes virus is no longer hidden from the immune system. By introducing a particular blend of organic chemical composites, the ICP47 proteins can be detached from the nerve cells. Now that the herpes virus is exposed, the immune system needs to be strong enough to fight the virus. The program incorporates a distinctive vitamins, minerals and supplements regiment that when taken at the right time and in the right quantity to give the immune system what it needs to fight off the herpes.

In conclusion, this is a comprehensive program showing you everything you need to fight off the herpes virus. It’s all natural, there are no side effects, you’ll see results in less than a month, the cost is in-line with your weekly food budget and best of all every is available at your grocery or health food store.

Go to the website to see for yourself a surprising number of encouraging endorsements.

When using your computer there are active and passive ways to ensure your home PC is being protected against unwanted virus, trojan, and malware attacks. The active means is activities you participate in to protect and maintain your computer. The passive means is usually setting up a software program making some settings and then being able to forget it and let it perform its operation when it is set to perform that function.

Let’s look at some passive measures;

Firewall – Your firewall program, either as a separate program or part of an anti-virus suite, once its settings are at the level of protection you require – its done.

Anti-virus – Your anti-virus program will have a section for settings for an automatic scan, setup your preferred time and day for operation and set your repeat preference, usually weekly. Please note this operation will only be performed when your computer is on and running.

Email – Once your email program is setup for spam, your emails that come through that you have helped tell it what is spam and what is not, is set.

Internet settings – Found in control panel, ensure you have the highest effective operational settings that will always ensure additional security and privacy.

Computer not in use – Turn off both your home computer and your internet modem (unless the modem is in use via cable or wireless for other home users)

Let’s look at some active measures, additional actions for active measures are usually only required as an additional protection measures, or when one believes there are active infections on the home computer;

Firewall – Your firewall program may be opened and set its security to higher setting, useful when required to download software or updates and one still needs to temporarily connect to the internet.

Anti-virus – Update immediately, and run a manual scan.

Email – Once your email program is setup for spam, your emails that come through that you have, now require a manual check to ensure no legitimate emails are in the spam box as false positives.

Other means of active measures may include if you suspect virus activity, is to turn off connection to the internet, run a virus and malware scan, delete all temporary files and do this process again in ‘safe mode’ of windows.

I was guilty of it. I’m someone who believed that if I was not focused and working intensely, I just wasn’t being effective. It was a mistake. Life is about balance. I’ve learned through the years that being so “busy” was nothing more than being selfish. I was inconsiderate to my family and friends who wanted to see me, talk or spend time. It was all about work. Oftentimes, nothing else mattered.

That was my story. But, I’ve realized that this “busy virus” has spread. I have two colleagues who’ve been interviewing with nonprofits. I’ve heard the same from both of them. What happened to taking a moment and being polite to someone that’s been interviewed? What happened to letting someone know one way or another if they’re in consideration or if the job was given to someone else? One would think if there’s been an interview that at the very least there should be some form of communication rather than radio silence.

If you look around, the busy virus is everywhere. Job applicants are interviewed and never hear back from employers. Emails are sent and seem to disappear into the clouds of the Internet, never to be replied to unless there are several follow-ups. Phone calls are made and messages left with no return reply. And, my favorite, of which I was very guilty – appointments were set only to be “too busy” to ultimately meet.

I’ve always been someone that’s very responsive (professionally or personally). When I started out in life my mentors and family trained me to acknowledge people quickly. I’ve always kept that discipline. Yes, I may have failed along the way with a delayed call or email, but it wasn’t often. It was probably pretty rare. But, I was notorious for never taking the time to be with friends and family because I was always too busy working.

Some of it, I think, had to do with the fact that I was a single mom. I played the role of both parents. I had to be disciplined, and I had to have determination. My daughter was depending on me. But this morphed into something else, which became selfish and ego driven.

Somewhere along the line it became all about my work and my life. There wasn’t much room for anyone or anything else. I’ve learned that I was terribly inconsiderate of people who loved and cared for me. Professionally, I was always at the top of my response game. However, personally, there was always some work obligation more important.

I’m not the only one, as I’ve stated in this article. So many people are infected with the busy virus. I hear from friends and colleagues or see for myself how everyone is consumed in a tornado of minutia. Somehow, it’s become acceptable to ignore emails, telephone calls or serially break appointments until the busy virus subsides.

Here’s the deal though. The virus does not leave until you start to address it head on.

Why should people interviewed for jobs not receive some sort of response? Why should friends and family be so focused on work obligations that they don’t have 5 minutes to just connect with a loved one? I think everyone enjoys receiving unexpected calls, texts or emails from someone they care about reaching out “just because”.

The busy virus has led us to a society where being inconsiderate or impolite is, unfortunately, commonplace.

As a recovering busy virus patient, I’ve realized that for myself, it’s a terribly lame excuse to simply be careless. We can put off many things we don’t want to deal with as a society because we’re so collectively busy. But, there’s something to be said about politeness and courtesy.

What I’ve learned, the hard way is that when I had the busy virus, when I couldn’t take one minute to connect, I didn’t appear important. I just appeared to others as aloof and uncaring, even if that was never my intent.

As I recover from “busy”, it doesn’t impress me much anymore. There’s always a moment to be kind and responsive – even when the demands are plenty.

Most of the time (i.e. unless you’re dealing with a major illness, life challenge or funeral), there’s always a minute you can take to send a quick text, email or make a phone call. This can be done in a personal or professional environment, depending on where the busy virus afflicts you.

Life is short. I don’t often have regrets and I rarely look back, but I’ve learned how I lost precious personal time with people I care about in my life.

I’ll never get that time back.

Viruses are little bits of software that normally have a negative impact on our computers when they are activated. Usually viruses are attached onto other software programs (games, disk utilities, office documents/Macros, screen-savers), and are activated when these normally harmless programs are started.

A virus is inactive until the infected program is run or an infected boot record on a floppy/CD is read. When the virus is activated it loads into your computer’s memory where it can perform its nasty job or spread itself to other programs on your system or computers in your network.

Floppy disks used in an infected system (or CD-Roms/DVDs burned on an infected system) can then carry the virus to another machine. Programs downloaded from USENET, or file-sharing programs (Kazaa, Morpheus, Limewire etc.) can also spread a virus. More frequently now, email is also becoming a favourite way to spread viruses, Trojan horses and especially internet worms.

It should be made clear, that USENET and file-sharing programs do not create viruses or infected files in any way. It is certain anti-social people who create viruses, and then use these services to spread the infected files to other users on the system.

This is very similar to cars and highways in that Ford, Toyota or the highway makers do not cause traffic accidents, it is the idiot who got drunk and then drove who causes a 14 car pileup. Of course if there weren’t cars or highways there wouldn’t be an accident… then again, the idiot would still be getting smashed and driving his horse-carriage into the store window.

When you get a virus on your computer, it can erase everything that you have on your hard drive. Each virus is different – some of them come up as strange messages on your screen, while others just work at eroding the files on the computer. A virus just doesn’t appear in your computer – you have to put them there, usually by running program from the Internet that contain viruses. They sometimes come from attachments in emails. It is possible that an email from a friend could contain a virus if that person’s computer is infected. With anti-virus software installed on your computer, this will tell you whether or not it is safe to open the email with a message such as “No virus detected in incoming mail:

When you do get a virus through programs or mail, it hides in your computer and when you save data in the computer, you also save the virus. Then it starts to infect all the other files in your computer. When you send files to a friend or co-worker, you also send the virus to his/her computer. After a while the virus starts to crowd the data in your files and causes major problems with the system, such that you may not even be able to open important documents or you may not be able to open any of the programs on the computer. The virus won’t affect the memory of your computer, but it will affect any disks that you use to save your work.

Registry issues are not the only cause for runtime errors. Often, the cause such an error is due to a virus. If you’ve ever come across a number of problems with your computer that seem a little odd, it might be due to pesky virus that has found its way onto your computer.

You could be the most security conscience person on the earth but the chances of getting a virus are very high. This is because even opening an email can potentially be a threat, especially one that has an attachment. Downloading illegal files such as videos may also put you at risk.

Once installed, these viruses can do serious damage to a computer. Worse still, some of these viruses may steal personal information from your computer. The SubSeven virus is one example that can do just that. Fortunately, there are telltale signs that your computer is infected with this virus. You may see a runtime error message with the code 216 which is often linked with this particular virus.

Noticing a threat quickly and acting on it should help minimize any risks and potential damage caused. The hypinit32.exe virus known to cause the Runtime error 21 is one that can display a range of odd behaviour. You may notice screen freezing, problems updating or downloading software, problems with connecting to the internet, increased CPU memory usage and problems accessing your hotmail email address.

Usually, all you will need is an antivirus tool to remove this problem. However some runtime errors caused by viruses may require a little more work depending on what programs you use, how vulnerable your computer is and how infected your machine is. This might include trying to source the problem file, reverting to an earlier system restore point or worse comes to worse, reinstalling Windows.

The good news is that there are lots of great free antivirus programs, tools as well as information out there to help rid your PC of these pesky viruses and irritating runtime errors without having to do anything too drastic.

You will find that free antivirus programs generally do not offer as much protection compared to a paid one. But if you rather not spend any money, installing a free antivirus program onto your computer is better than having none. To name a few there are plenty of software companies that offer free antivirus programs such as Avast, AVG and Trend Micro.

Hackers from all over the world keep coming up with several innovative ways to hack into computers connected with the internet. The hackers who use Google redirect virus target the Google search results of Windows users with an objective to drive traffic to malicious websites.

How Google Redirect Virus Affects Your System?

When you type something in the Google search box, see the search engine results and click on any website; your internet browser opens up a malicious website which is actually not the page you exactly saw in the search engine results. This is how the Google redirect virus affects your system. You will be amazed to know that many anti-viruses have been unable to remove this virus. This article highlights some manual steps to remove Google Redirect Virus from your system.

Clean LmHosts.sam file

If your internet browser is being redirected to a malicious website, it may be due to the manipulation of the ‘lmhosts.sam’ file located in the system 32 folder of your windows system.

To open the ‘lmhosts.sam’ file, you just need to open your windows explorer program and open the following folder – ‘C:WindowsSystem32Driversetc’

‘lmhosts.sam’ file contains your DNS Redirect settings. You can open this file using the notepad. In case, you see any IP address and domain name listings entered in this file, simply delete them and save this file. In this way, you can stop the redirection of your Google search results.

Change TCP/IP Setting of Your Web Browser

To prevent your redirection of your Google search results, you can also change the TCP/IP settings of your web browser. For this, just go to the control panel, open the list of network connections and access the properties of your internet connection and specifically the window having your TCP/IP properties. Now tick this checkbox: ‘Obtain an IP address automatically’.

Remove Proxy Settings on Your Web Browser

It may be possible that your web browser’s settings have been changed. To fix it, open the internet setting of your browser and check if there is any proxy server settings been entered. If they are, disable them by checking the no proxy server box.

Run a Complete Virus Scan

After checking all the aforesaid things; you are recommended to run a complete virus scan of your system drive in order to remove the remnants of that virus left in form of Trojans or other malware. In this way, you can easily remove Google redirect virus from your system.