One of the most common things people come to us to fis is a malware infection – your computer runs very slow, weird web pages pop up randomly, or something else strange is happening.  Many people will try to download some sort of free antivirus software to fix this and… things just get worse.

Now the best way to avoid this in the first place is to simply switch to Linux where these viruses, trojans, and other malware simply will not run.

Barring that, people come to Just Works so we can fix the infestation.  It’s not as simple as it sounds.  These malicious programs are designed to be hard to remove.  The best way, and only way to be 100% sure is to completely wipe the hard drive and re-install *EVERYTHING* from scratch.  Cleaning out a malware infection can take HOURS of tedious searching and removing just the right things.

Installing “free antivirus software” often just makes things worse.  Why?  The virus writers often disguise their malware as free antivirus software!  Really.  Here read about it from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/22/anatomy_of_a_hack/print.html

So next time you see a window pop up claiming to tell you “You’re Infected! Click here to install the fix” think twice.  If you already have installed one of these Trojans, stop by Just Works and let us take a look at your computer.

Look for our ad in print edition of the Lowell Sun‘s 2008 Back to School section.

Clip out the ad and bring it in and get a 5% discount on your next computer from Just Works!