What To Do When the Computer Gets Infected By Virus : Re enabling Folder Options, Registry Editor Disabled , Missing Internet Option
Friday | Labels: Tips | |Yesterday a friend of mine brought in his laptop which was behaving a little too funny for him to handle. Obviously it turned out to be a virus case. Its really sad to see that even today people ignore the importance of having an Anti-V Installed.
Anyway, i installed an anti virus and removed those sweet little pests. But what about the damage it has already done to the system???
For the matter of their survival virus make certain changes in the system, like creating keys in registry, locking down the registry so that you won't be able to modify the keys and values they have created, removing folder option from explorer so that you won't be able to see the hidden files and folders, locking down task bar etc. etc....
My point is suppose even when you have the virus removed by an anti virus how will the anti virus react to these changes?? For example the virus has created a key in registry to disable registry editing... how is anti virus going to react to that?? of course that key in itself is not a virus so it will just ignore it. So what do we have a locked registry!
That is when comes the importance of installing a good anti virus prior to the attack. Only a few like Norton is capable of reverting back these small non harmful changes that the virus creates but still a majority of anti virus can't!
This is where you have to play your part.
Pre-Virus Setup:
First and foremost thing is that prevention is always better than cure... you should always have a good updated anti virus installed in your computer. In my opinion Norton Anti-Virus is the best, but it is heavy on system resources. So unless you have 512 MB or more of RAM you will feel degradation in performance of computer (although it is an ideal condition that you have 512 RAM with Norton installed). If you have Less recourses you can go for other good ones too...
AVAST home edition is also a good anti-V, its free for home use.
Second thing is that internet is major source of virus infection. Internet Explorer is by far still vulnerable with viruses. Firefox is the safest in my opinion. So if you are still using Internet Explorer you might want to switch to Mozilla Firefox. Its a free browser. There is a download button for downloading Firefox in the left column on this site.
Post-Virus Treatments:
Despite everything, if somehow a virus sneaks in, The first thing you should do (..is panic!,Nah) install a good anti virus with the virus definition updated to the latest, and have it removed.
Next comes the task to get the system back to normal.
Re-Enabling Registry Editor
Most Viruses Disable The Registry Editor, When you type regedit in the Run it gives an error message that "Registry Editing Has Been Disabled By The Administrator"
I've already posted the solution in the article Registry Tweaks. Please refer to it
Cleaning Up The Registry
Download Registry Mechanic, Its there in the downloads section on the left or (Click Here To Download). Install it and run a complete scan. It will find the errors and have it fixed. although it is recommended to use this tool even on a healthy PC to keep the Registry errors at bay
Re-enabling Missing Folder Options
You might find that the folder options in your explorer missing. Here is how to re enable it.
Open Registry Editor( by typing regedit in Start-->Run) and Browse to this location
There look for a DWORD value in the right side named NoFolderOptions. double click on it and set the value to 0
You need to restart you computer for the changes to take place.
OR ALTERNATIVELY
Type gpedit.msc in the Start-->Run then goto
User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Component -> Windows Explorer
in right-side, set "Removes the Folder Options menu item from the Tools menu" to Disabled.
Re-Enabling Internet Explorer Options
Open Registry Editor and browse to the following location
In the Right Side look for a DWORD value by the name NoBrowserOptions
Double Click and set its value to 0
Now that we have lifted the restrictions its time to get the PC is the previous performance level. You might notice the performance have degraded and the PC is not working at its Normal Speed. I've already written many articles on this particular area. Even when you are not hit by a virus you should perform these tasks to keep your PC in good shape. To Optimize the speed..
Please Refer to these articles:
Some Hard Disk Fixes To Speed Up PC
Optimizing Boot Speed
