[juanga88]

How can I be 100% sure if I have a virus on my computer?

The obvious answer will of course be a virus scan. I have kaspersky virus protection on my computer but it's always possible for a virus to slip passed it right?



Is there anyway I can be 100% (or a least pretty close) that my computer is not infected with anything?

[lilxkid24]

If kaspersky says theres none you probably have none. Whats there to panic anyway really?

[SpiritWind]

Hi :



Nowadays there are very few, if any, "Viruses" infecting people's computers . There are so

many different "Kinds" that now the term used is "malware" . That is WHY we recommend

the "Layered Approach", which is somewhat explained at

forums.pcworld.com/docs/DOC-1141|d-1141 . The Best way to reduce the Possibility of

having malware on a computer is to have a highly trained, experienced, CERTIFIED

"Malware-Fighter" analyze the Log from the "HijackThis" program .

[piyushsingh]

In addition to layered approach mentioned by {user:username=SpiritWind} , you may run any of free online scans monthly to make sure any viruses do not get through your protection. Below are some of the links.

eset online scanner
bitdefender online scanner
mcafee freescan
kaspersky free scan

Most require IE for their scanning.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Juanga and welcome to the PCWorld Communities. :D





In addition to the Document provided by Spirit, here is another Document that goes into more detail on how the Tiered (or Layered) security approach works:


{document:id=1830}

[joshuav]

you can try hijackthis.

josh

[mphenterprises]

Hi Joshuav. I would disagree slightly. Although HiJackThis is an excellent application to use to try and determine what malicious files may be in your computer, it is not something that should be used lightly. HiJackThis only produces a log that is then read by individuals who know how to decipher the log.

There are only a few, I believe Spirit is one, people in this Community that is proficient in reading that log. Otherwise, the person would have to take that log and have it deciphered by someone else. That could potentially eat up valuable time that could be spent actually trying to resolve the problem instead of waiting for someone else to determine what the problem may be.

All in all, the Documents that both Spirit and I provided give any person the tools necessary to resolve a security breach on his or her own.

[Adama]

I just found this discussion. Wow Piyush, those are great free scanners! I checked every one of them and saved them to my faves so I can check them out later.

I will also do scans once a month, with at least one of these scanners.

Thanks again.

[techie4fun]

Hijackthis is too complicated for the average user.



In response to the original poster, if you keep your virus definitions up to date and your scans are coming out clean, you probably don't have much to worry about.