Virus and Malware Removal

Today’s computer viruses are largely financially driven. They target sensitive information such as identities, credit card or bank account numbers and other data that can be used or sold for profit. Many variants exist and they will attack using different strategies.

Some viruses are designed specifically to impersonate anti-virus software and offer to cure the infection they created by asking for your credit card information. Of course their true goal is to sell your payment information and leave your computer infected.

Other forms of viruses infect web sites maintained by webmasters and web hosting companies which have failed to fully plug exploits and vulnerabilities. When the web site gets infected, it tricks browsing web users by falsely claiming their computer is infected. The virus mimics the user's antivirus software and requests the user run a program or plugin. The infected site claims this program or plugin will scan and remove the infection. In actuality, running the program or plugin is authorizing the virus itelf to install into the user's computer. Quite insidious.

Still others are even more devious and may attempt to infiltrate your computer to siphon keystrokes or even pose as a legitimate bank web site to gain access to very sensitive data. Phishing, "Redirectors", and DNS based proxy viruses are all on the rise.

At Meridian Computer Corporation, we specialize in removing all forms of viruses and malware including Spyware and Adware. We also help educate computer users to use smart internet use strategies to safe guard against future virus and malware infections.

How do you know if your computer is infected? Here are some common symptoms:

Your computer behaves strangely, i.e. in a way that you haven’t seen before.

You see unexpected messages or images.

You hear unexpected sounds, played at random.

Programs start unexpectedly.

Your firewall software tells you that an application has tried to connect to the Internet (and it’s not a program that you ran).

Your friends tell you that they have received e-mail messages from your address and you haven’t sent them anything.

Your computer ‘freezes’ frequently, programs start running slowly, or you get "blue screen" and/or other system errors.

The operating system will not load when you start your computer.

You notice that files or folders have been deleted or changed.

You notice hard disk access (shown by one of the small flashing lights) when you’re not aware of any programs running.

CPU Utilization is high and does not return to a low level over time.

Your web browser behaves erratically, e.g. you can’t close a browser window.

You get redirected to sites other than those you expect especially when clicking on Google or other search engine search results.

If you are experiencing these or other strange symptoms, contact us. We'll get you back up and running as soon as possible.