If your computer has been infected with spyware and malware then you're probably wondering what to do. Obviously your priorities have shifted from keeping it out of your system, to getting it out of your system. This can be a very hard thing to do depending on the severity of your infection. Fortunately there are many things you can do to take care of your problem.
The main threat that spyware poses once it has entered your system is mainly dependant on how long it has remained undetected. Good protection programs and active scanners will notify you if something gets through almost immediately. However less advanced programs might not detect anything until you run a scan. This means the program could be sitting on your machine spying on you for several weeks.
The longer it has to spy on you, the better chance it has at stealing your identity. Although by itself it is harmless it simply scans your visited sites, keystrokes, and looks for alpha numeric codes resembling social security numbers, credit card numbers, and passwords. At predetermined dates it will send out the information it's gathered back to its creators who then go through it and steal your identity. This has been the topic of much debate in the business community to whether it's illegal or not.
The main reason for this is that many corporations and businesses use spyware on their machines to monitor employees. This is needed to make sure their employees aren't trying to scam them, or slack off on the job. While this is fine in the business world, it can be used to hurt people in their homes. If you have been infected the first steps you should take are aggressive ones.
First you want to update and run all of your antispyware and antivirus programs. If you don't have any there are many legitimate free programs on the net. You can identify them by the number of reviews, and recommendations from other users. After installing and scanning you will most likely find the files that are infected.
After finding the files make sure to delete and heal them. Next you want to run some kind of cleaner to get rid of junk files and file fragments. Finally you should run a registry cleaner to handle any additional damage that the fight may have caused. Finally just to be safe you should call your bank and credit card companies and ask them to keep an eye out for any suspicious charges.
This is essential to keeping your credit in good shape. The last thing you want is for a random charge for a boat to pop up on your account. It's important to take preventative measures even in the event that nothing is wrong. Better safe than sorry when it comes to your credit and identity information.
When fighting off spyware it's important to be vigilant in all things. Make sure to have protection spyware virus removal programs to keep it out in the first place and scanning programs to go after it in the event it makes it inside. After you've run your scans and cleaned your computer it's a good idea to run them again. Then you want to notify your bank to watch for charges.
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