How To Remove Viruses From Your PC/ Laptop

Has your computer been infected by a virus? Viruses and other malware can pose a significant security risk to your data and personal information, and can have a drastic effect on your computer's performance. They can be tricky to get rid of, since many are programmed to be extremely hardy. If your computer is suffering from a nasty infection, see Step 1 below to get rid of it.

Step 1. Backup your data. Before starting the virus removal process, make sure that all of your important data is backed up. This will ensure that nothing of value is lost if the computer has to be completely reformatted, and you can get back up and running with minimal time invested.

• See this guide for detailed instructions on how to back up all of your important data.

Step 2. Check to ensure that other factors aren't causing your problem. Oftentimes a slow computer will give the impression that it is infected with a virus, when it may be an issue with memory, storage, adware, or a number of other factors. Failing hardware, especially hard drives, can significantly slow down your computer and corrupt files.

• This guide contains a variety of tips to help speed up a slow computer.

Step 3. Gather your tools. You should already have an antivirus program installed, but if you don't there are a variety of both free and commercial products are available. Most paid programs have a trial period that will allow you to scan and remove viruses, so don't worry about cost and download the program that sounds the best to you. Popular options include Virus Vanish, Kaspersky, BitDefender, Antivir and Trend Micro. You should only have one of these installed at a time.

• You will also need a few anti-malware programs. While lots of adware is technically legitimate, lots of it is shady as well. These programs may pick up things that your antivirus passes over. Popular options include Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Hitman pro. Like antivirus programs, You should not have too many anti malware programs as they may slow down your PC, but unlike antivirus programs it is an option.
• If your virus infection is preventing you from successfully downloading files, you will need to download them on another computer and transfer them via USB drive.

Step 4. Reboot in Safe Mode. In order for a virus to do anything, it needs to be run. Most viruses run themselves by attaching to startup services that load when Windows loads. Safe Mode only loads the most essential files for Windows to run, which should stop almost all viruses from activating. This will allow you to identify and remove them.

Step 5. Run your scans. Run a full system scan with your antivirus program. Quarantine anything that doesn't look right after the scan is complete (most antivirus programs have a quarantine function). After you are finished running the virus scan, run each of your additional anti-malware scans. Each program is capable of removing any infections it is able to find

Step 6. Test your computer. After the scans have all completed, reboot normally and test your computer's performance. Run your web browser and any other programs that you originally had issues with. If your infection is gone, you're done! If problems persist, read on to the next section.

Originally Sourced From: http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-a-Virus

How to Fix Blue Screen of Death

Blue screen appears when we least expect it. Most of the times, it occurs when we are happily playing our favorite game or diligently working on the report due tomorrow. All of a sudden, the blue demon appears in front of you and it seems some sort of fatal and non-recoverable error has occur. At such point of time, you cannot do anything. You can cry or curse, but it won’t change the fact that your hard work has got disappeared. All of us dread seeing the blue screen of death. It is generally the result of a critical system error and your computer cannot keep on running when that occurs and instead crashes. Most of the problems occur due to bad drivers. Hardware problems such as corrupt memory modules or broken hard drive can be another reason.

A blue screen occurs when Windows encounters a “STOP Error.” This critical failure causes Windows to crash and stop working. The only thing Windows can do is stop the computer and restart it. This can lead to data loss, as programs don’t have a chance to save their open data — ideally, programs should continuously save their data so a blue screen of death or other type of error won’t result in data loss. A BSOD is the result of low-level software crashing — or faulty hardware.

# Repair Solution To Fix BSOD

When you get blue screen and then your computer immediately reboots without being able to read the text in the blue screen, follow the steps below.

Method 1: Using System Restore

1. Click on the Start button on the Taskbar.

2. Type “System Restore” (without quotes) in the Search box and hit Enter or,

3. Click on System Restore (when you see System Restore pop up in the list of search results).

4. Make sure the “Recommended restore” radio button is checked on the restore utility window.

5. Click on Next and follow the instructions given.

Note: There is the option on the restore utility to select “Choose a different restore point”. Unless you have a specific reason to select a different date and time than what Windows recommends, just select the recommended option stated in the steps above. If you choose to select another one, follow these steps:

1. Click on that desired date and time, and Windows 7 will perform a scan for any affected programs in that restore point.

2. Once completed, click Next and follow the instructions given.

Once you have selected the restore point, your system will start the restoring process, after which you will have to restart the system.

Method 2: Check memory problems

Memory management issues can also cause a BSOD in Windows 7. Thankfully, Windows 7 has a Memory Management Diagnostic tool that detects and solves problems related to system memory.

1. Click on the Start button on the Taskbar.

2. Type “Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool” or “Memory” (without quotes) in the Search box or,

3. Click on Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool (in the search results).

4. Click on “Restart now and check for problems (Recommended)”.

5. The system will restart, and you need to follow the instructions given on the screen.

Method 3: Remove unsupported devices

Unsupported hardware may also result in a BSOD error. The easiest solution to this problem is to uninstall such hardware. You can detect the hardware that’s creating the problem through the Device Manager in Windows.

1. Click on the Start button on the Taskbar.

2. Type “Device Manager” in the Search box.

3. Click on Device Manager (in the list of results).

4. Expand all categories in the hardware tree – (click the little arrow icons).

5. Look for devices that have a red cross (x) against their name. These devices are not supported by Windows 7 and may be one of the reasons for BSOD errors.

6. Right click on these devices, and select Uninstall.

A corrupt registry can also lead to BSOD errors in Windows 7. Suggestion is that you download a good registry cleaner and scan your system for registry errors. There are both free and paid versions available and they both have pros and cons. Most of the registry cleaners available are easy to install and operate.

The cleaning process is automated, and the programs also backup the registry before cleanup, which acts as a safeguard. You can restore the registry to its previous state if you encounter system errors after the cleaning process.

There’s really no need to panic when you see a BSOD error on your screen. Just stay calm and follow the checklist above to fix the error.

Originally Source From: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2005670/fix-blue-screen-death-bsod-windows.html