|
HOW TO USE AVG
Hi, if you’re reading this it means you have a virus or you think you have a virus. If you’re a client of Computability, chances are I've put AVG Free anti-virus software on your computer. If AVG has told you it found a virus or you suspect you have a virus, you'll want to do a full scan of your computer. So let's begin.
First off, don't panic! Second if your using windows XP or windows ME please right click the "My Computer" icon on your desktop. Scroll down to properties and click. This will open your control panel’s main page. In the upper left hand corner you will see a tab that says " System Restore " click on that tab. Now you will see a check box that says " Turn off system restore " Click in the box to check it. (The reason we want to shut down system restore is if windows has taken a picture of the virus we don't want to restore it at a later
date.) After your computer is "clean" you can turn system restore back on if you like. Even if your not using AVG it's a good idea to dump your restore points before doing a scan with any anti-virus program. After the infection is removed, it won't be necessary to shut down system restore just to run a weekly scan, unless you’ve discovered a virus. Next were going to open the AVG control center by clicking on the multi colored square in the bottom right hand corner of your desktop near the clock. When AVG opens you'll see 3 tabs on the left hand side. We want the bottom tab, " check for updates ". If you have a broadband connection AVG will seek out and download any updates it can find. If you use your phone to connect to the Internet you'll have to dial in before you update.
When the update is complete, click on the " Test Center " tab. Here you will see " Scan Computer " click on this and AVG will now scan your computer and display the results when it's done. Any thing it finds will be put in the "virus vault" any thing that's in the vault cannot harm your computer. After the scan AVG will show you what it's found. As you look through the vault you may see a comment next to a virus such as "back up copy infected", this means that AVG has made a copy of the infected file just incase the file has to be restored at a later date. Remember anything that's in the vault is prevented from running on your computer. At this point just leave whatever is in the vault there for a few days to insure your computer is running ok, after that you can empty the vault to remove anything that's there.
No one anti-virus program can detect and remove all viruses. It's also not a good idea to have more than one anti-virus program installed on your computer. So if by chance AVG has come across a virus that it says it cannot heal or remove we'll want to scan with another program. On my website, www.computability.us, under the "Gene's links" tab you'll find a link to "Trend Micro" clicking on this link will take you to a site that will scan your computer over the internet. Click on the "Scan now" link and follow the directions. You maybe asked to install a program or an Active-X control in order for the scan to work, install and scan. Please be aware that this scan only works with Internet Explorer, so if your using Firefox or something else close that and open IE then go to the site and scan. Between the two programs you should be in pretty good shape. If you still have concerns or questions, please call me for help.
Also on my site on the links page you will find links to "Counterspy", "SpyBot" and "Ad-aware" as well as a link to the AVG download page. Counterspy, SpyBot and Ad-aware are all spyware removal programs. If you do not have a copy of these programs installed on your computer I would recommend you download all three and install them. Just like anti-virus there isn't just one program that will find and remove all spyware. But unlike anti-virus it is ok and highly recommended to have all three installed.
Both Ad-aware and SpyBot are free to use, Counterspy is free for 14 days and I would strongly recommend buying it after the trial period is over. Counterspy unlike Ad-aware and SpyBot will run in the background like anti-virus and will prevent most spyware from getting on your computer in the first place. Counterspy cost $20.00 for the first year and $10.00 for every year after that. I have been using it for quite a while and been very happy with how it works.
The reason were talking about spyware removal is because you now need to run some scans with these programs to insure we got all of the bad stuff off your computer. So download and install whatever programs you need to from my site. After you download Counterspy, remain connected to the Internet so Counterspy can update it's self scan your computer and remove or quarantine whatever it finds. then close Counterspy and open Ad-aware, update if you need to and scan. Remove anything Ad-aware finds, close that and Update and run SpyBot. Use the "Fix Problems" button to remove anything SpyBot finds. Remember if you use your phone to connect to the Internet you'll have to connect first to update these programs. If the Spyware programs find lots of stuff you will want to re-scan your computer with them until it's clean.
After all the scans are done I would recommend you scan your computer again over the course of the week to make sure the virus or spyware hasn't re-installed it's self. Also please keep your computer up to date with the updates from Microsoft and run a complete virus scan at least once a week. You can scan for spyware whenever you want, but I would recommend at least once a week. Scan for spyware in this order Counterspy, then Ad-aware and lastly SpyBot. Of course if you have any questions feel free to call me.
home | computer
services | web services | about | contact | links
Copyright © 2005, Computability PC Services
|
