Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Help me clean up my computer!

This post is selfish. I am hoping that you all can help me clean up my email. I starting getting some odd emails that look like email delivery failures. What they are in fact is evidence that someone who has my email address has been infected with a computer virus or malware. This one is probably a trojan, which is so named because unbeknownst to you it hijacks your computer and secretly sends out SPAM. It could even be that someone accessed their email via the web on another computer that was already infected. It is all but impossible to track the source of these clever little beasties. The best we can do is each of us clean up the computers we use to ensure that we are not the sender. Here's how:
  1. Shut down your email program. Both local and web access
  2. Update your anti-virus software. (We have bought a copy of AVG for each of our users) There are many companies that offer these, McAfee, Trend.  Here is a free one for the macintosh. You should have  one. Make sure you do this on any computer you have accessed you email including webmail, then scan the machine for viruses.
  3. Download and install malwarebytes(PC only)(select the free version), and run a scan also(quick scan is sufficient). Here is scanner for Macintosh.
I really hope you can help me clean up my email this way. Thanks in advance.
PS. This will also help everyone else that you email.
PPS. It is possible to set up regular scans with your anti-virus software that help you from ever getting infected. Check it out
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3 comments:

  1. LMarch 29, 2011 at 9:50 AM

    Thanks for the post! I appreciate getting sound advice on how to clean up our computers from a tech person who knows his stuff. :-) In the past, I have had to rely on an internet search engine for advice on how to get rid of malware--not always reliable information. Thanks again.

    Laurie in Murrieta

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  2. Gary ClarkMarch 29, 2011 at 10:07 AM

    Thanks Laurie, you are right about the Internet not always being reliable. There are even sites that mimic helping you to infect your machine. It is wise to be cautious when downloading and installing any file on your computer.

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  3. AnonymousMarch 31, 2011 at 7:36 AM

    I have a macintosh. I was not able to do the step 2 because I could not download the free anti-virus software -- I'm not sure why. I went ahead and did step 3, though. I've never had a virus before but I hope this will prevent it.

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