How to Clean Viruses off a Computer

Viruses on a computer often occur without warning and can wipe out your entire system, leaving you with little more than a pretty box. As a computer owner, if you are using the Internet, you need to have a method to clean viruses off your computer successfully. It is difficult to know that you have a computer virus coming in, but there are ways to keep your computer clean.

Things You'll Need

• Antivirus software

Instructions

Clean Viruses From Computer

1. Install an antivirus software program onto your computer. You can choose from a variety of companies that sell such software and you don't have to spend too much. Just look for a top-rated software program such as McAffee or Norton, two of the standards in the industry.

2. Run the software for an initial scan. This will pick up any and all viruses on your computer. The scan is usually a one- or two-step process that removes viruses or other worrisome files from your computer by scanning through each of those files.

3. Delete any viruses from your computer that the software finds. At the end of the scan, most software programs will place viruses in a virus "vault." It is up to you to check to see if any viruses were found and to permanently remove them. You may be able to set your virus software to do this automatically or you may need to click a button to do it manually.

4. Keep your virus software up-to-date to clean viruses off your computer. As new viruses are created, your antivirus programs will need to be updated to scan your computer for those new files. This can be done by following the update directions provided by your software provider or simply make sure to update the software at least once a week.

5. Clean difficult-to-remove viruses off a computer by having them professionally serviced by a computer technician. While it should be rare that you need these professionals to remove viruses from your computer, it may be necessary if your computer has several viruses and has had them for some time. Technicians can remove more viruses than most software programs do.

6. Couple your antivirus software with other types of protection software to aid its success rate. This includes spyware, adware and malware software detection and removal. Also, use a free antivirus software program that is trusted (such as AVG Anti Virus) to do additional checks on your computer and to remove anything your current program may have missed.

Tips & Warnings

• Spyware, adware and malware software detection and removal programs are easily found by doing a search on the Internet.