The Best Way to Recovery From a Virus

We clean up viruses and/or malware every week.  Sometimes the user could have prevented their infestation, and other times they could not.  Antivirus software has to be able to protect your computer from  every virus that is on the planet.  With odds like that there is no way any Antivirus software can protect a computer from all of the viruses and malware out there.  The only real solution is data abstinence.  Never get on the internet and never add any media to your computer.  Since we must get on the internet and we must enter media into our computers to make them useful we have to come up with a better plan.  The better plan is a full system backup.

Full system backups (bare bones backups) are a snapshot in time of a computer.  If a snapshot is taken at 3:00 AM and the computer gets a devastating virus at 5:00 PM.  The computer can be restored to its’ previous state at 3:00 AM before it contracted the virus.

Windows 7 has Windows Backup, and Mac has Time Machine for full system backups.   If your computer does not have Windows 7 you will need to go with a third party backup software.  I use Acronis True Image Home (www.acronis.com)  for my PC’s because it gives me additional options for alerts and file management.

Whether it is a virus, hard drive failure or a user error, full system backups will save you time, money and headache.

Sublime Computer Services - K9 Web Protection - Recommended

A former colleague of mine who is now a pastor asked for my assistance in preparing a presentation on Internet protection for kids. This gave me cause to look into what new Internet protection software was out there. I tested some software that I had not tried before and that brought me to K9 Web Protection. As a result of my testing I am now running K9 Web Protection on my computer.

K9 Web Protection Defined from their website: “K9 Web Protection is a free Internet filter and parental control software for your home Windows or Mac computer. K9 puts YOU in control of the Internet so you can protect your kids.”

The K9 software meets two goals for me. It reduces the amount of unsavory Internet content and it keeps my computer clear of the websites that want to give me viruses. K9 is free for home use and $18.49 per PC for business use. Another feature that is important to me is that the software does not slow down my computer. I do not notice K9 is running until it blocks a site for me. It is also very easy to add a legitimate site.

My recommendation for the home PC is to run Microsoft Security Essentials as a good stand alone antivirus software with K9 running to keep the content clean. I additionally run Open DNS on my home network to supplement K9.

My recommendation for the business PC is to run a manged antivirus with K9 and Open DNS.

More information from the K9 Web Protection Website
http://www1.k9webprotection.com/

Information about Microsoft Security Essentials
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials

Information about Open DNS
http://opendns.com/

Recommended Antivirus Programs

I get asked a lot what Antivirus program that I recommend. I have yet to see a perfect Antivirus program. I have seen a virus or malware on every program that I know. It really depends on how badly you want to protect a computer to determine which Antivirus that you want installed.

If you are looking for a free Antivirus program I recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. For the home user Microsoft Security Essentials does a good job of protecting without making the computer unusable. Version 2.0 adds network filtering and heuristic protection. I use Microsoft Security Essentials on my home computers. However I backup my computers every night in case I get a virus I can revert to yesterday.

If you are looking for an antivirus program that locks down the computer I recommend Kaspersky. It does lock the computer down but It doesn't seem to strangle the computer like other antivirus programs of that nature.

Antivirus programs are there to help us remain virus free but be careful where you surf. Not all of the internet is good.

Microsoft Security Essentials - Get what you pay for it
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Kasperksy - Business class Antivirus
http://usa.kaspersky.com/products-services/business-security/

Top Anti-Virus Software Tested, Some OK, Others Useless

Top Anti-Virus Software Tested, Some OK, Others Useless: "AV-Comparative.org recently released the results of a malware removal tests with which they evaluated 16 anti-virus software solutions. The test focused only on the malware removal/cleaning capabilities, therefore all used samples were samples that the tested antivirus products were able to detect."