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One of the hottest topics and greatest frustrations with computer ownership is the inevitable slowdown in performance or getting a dreaded virus and spyware infection.

Long gone are the days when you had to go to a porn site, or illegally download music or movies to get infected. Hundreds of thousands of people are infected when visiting sites that one would never expect to have any problems. The bad guys are very clever and are getting better and better at making fake virus alerts, etc. look real. Once they get their foot in the door, they quickly take over your computer and make it virtually impossible to do anything other than visit their website that offers to let you pay them to get rid of the infection they caused.

For a flat rate of 150.00, I take your machine off-site and do a thorough cleanup of the machine. Usually, I can rid your system of the problem, but sometimes the only way out is to reinstall Windows from scratch. Some infections really dig in there. The only way to be 100% sure there is no infection or rootkits left is to do a clean install, but usually a good cleanup will take care of it.

Cleaning up your system may result in some programs being wiped out, and most likely, all those sites where you had the computer remember your login information will have to be reentered, so make sure you have all that information at hand if that happens. Also, make sure you have the reinstall disks or files for any critical programs that you must have in case they have to be reinstalled later.

Microsoft Windows is the most widely used operating system out there, and when not succumbing to viruses and spyware infections, it is eating away at itself in what we in the industry call “Windows Rot.” This just means that Windows and programs that run within it aren’t very good at cleaning up after themselves and over time leave all sorts of junk scattered around until the system runs more and more slowly. Sort of like a teenagers bedroom! It’s a good idea to have me do a good cleanup of your machine every six months or so to clean all that out and also make sure your software is all up to date and all security patches are installed.

If you’ve been bitten by a virus or spyware infection already, or just want to be preventative, give me a call and schedule a time for me to make your system as clean as a whistle!

(P.S. - I will not clean your teenagers bedroom!)