We can help you find the right solutions to protect your business from viruses, or help you remove the viruses if your current protection has failed.

Virus Protection

Virus Protection starts with educating your staff: what constitutes a risky email, should I click on this link… When our clients aren’t sure about an email they call us! We also post about common virus outbreaks on facebook and encourage staff to ask questions to help protect themselves and your business.

Of course good virus protection software, and frequent updates are also important and we can help you choose the right protection for your business, and either schedule visits to keep it updated or show your staff how to do the updates themselves.

Backups are really the third part of protecting yourself. Antivirus can only start working on a cure for a new virus after they find out about it. If you’re unlucky enough to get it in the first few days, your Antivirus probably won’t be able to protect you.

Viruses that hide in email attachments are also hard to find – there’s nothing for your Antivirus to detect until you’ve clicked the attachment. Once clicked the virus races to disable your Antivirus, and if it manages to hide for even a few seconds that can be long enough for your files to be damaged.

Cryptolocker is one of the new kinds of Ransomware Virus. Yup. It’s a virus that will encrypt your data and charge you to get it back. (They use BitCoin accounts to stay anonymous). There’s money to be made, so new versions are being released all the time now. You do have to click on an attachment in the email before the virus can activate, but once you have done that the data is usually unrecoverable. You either pay the ransom, or lose your files… or you revert to your backup and thumb your nose at the virus makers. You do HAVE a backup, right?

 

We have been using AVG Antivirus for many years, and we recommend them – both for their protection and for the way they interact with other software. The customer service is also excellent, with an Australian call centre ready to help you. We became AVG Resellers because we believe in their product.

 

Virus Removal

Of course – if the worst happens… we’ll be there to remove the virus (overnight if necessary) and get your computer network secured again.

Saving your data is always our number one priority, so any virus removal with us begins with a backup.

Cryptolocker is about the only virus that we haven’t been able to recover any data from, but even with the big C there are some recovery methods emerging for older versions.

It is a good idea to check with an IT Provider just what their policy is before you let them try to remove a virus. Some companies will format your computer (meaning you lose everything on it), either as a first or second resort. Its’ actually against the law for them to wipe your data without warning you in writing first, but unfortunately it does happen.

Give us a call if you’d like to talk about Virus Removal or Virus Protection.