Everyone who has a windows PC should be virus protected to the max, know how to use it & keep it updated. It's my understanding that there are many ways to get viruses, hacked, whatever. It's mind boggling!
You can be hacked by an individual, or a pre-determined process, meaning a script. A script is a little piece of code that usually makes bad changes to your machine ( not to be confused with a "good" one that you allow to your computer to install or for an upgrade purpose....for example your Windows Updates...) A script can come from simply visiting a website.
To protect oneself from hackers: you are depending on your anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall programs to protect you.
If one has been already infiltrated, some signs may be: pop-ups; hard drive activity; and a slowing down of computer functionality.
One must then take the following action: Run available anti-spyware and anti-malware Then, depending on what is found, quarantine and delete all infections.
For those of you who have a Security Suite installed on your computer with your server already, or those of you who use individual programs such as: SpyBot Search and Destroy, or Adaware; you must Update and Run these programs again.
By doing so, you are double checking that everything has been removed.
If you are unable to rid yourself of continually showing spyware or malware after having done all of the above, (double checking by running all of these programs twice), you will need to take your computer into a professional computer store to rid it (the computer) of these "stubborn" infections.
Source:Chase Computers, NY
