Malware removal, repair and protection

Computer viruses, spyware and adware are all kinds of malware, short for malicious software. Malware is software designed to surreptitiously infiltrate or damage a computer system. They can cause anything from time consuming nuisances to deleting precious data. See below for common symptoms and definitions of common malware types.

Common symptoms of a malware infection

  • A sudden drop in performance,
  • Crashing/halting or giving system error messages,
  • Not booting/loading up,
  • Resetting for no apparant reason,
  • Windows/dialogs freqently popping up giving you error messages and/or trying to sell things,
  • Web browser is being redirected to unrequested web sites,
  • Unexplained Internet/network activity and/or poor Internet performance,
  • And any other unusual behaviour.

Malware removal, repair and protection

If you have noticed any of these or wish to protect your computers and networks against an infection, contact us. One of our experienced technicians will come to your home or office and remove the malware, restore your computer to normal operation and/or help protect it from further infections.

The repair and/or protection time will vary depending on the type of malware, computer and number of computers. For a single computer it will typically range between two and four hours at $66 an hour. Contact us for a free quote.

Types of malware

Virus

Software that infects a computer program or file and can copy itself when the program or file is used. A virus can spread via networks such as intranets (local networks) and the Internet and via removable storage mediums such as floppy disks, CDs and USB drives.

Spyware

Software that can collect various types of personal information and can also interfere with user control of the computer in other ways, such as installing additional software or redirecting web browser activity.

Adware

Any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertising material to a computer after the software is installed or while the software is being used. This often happens without the users informed consent.

Worm

Self-replicating computer software. It uses a network to send copies of itself to other computers. Unlike a virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program or file.

Trojan horse

Software that installs other malicious software under the guise of doing something else. Though not limited in their payload, Trojan horses are notorious for installing backdoor programs which allow unauthorized remote access to the victim's computer.