"What is a trojan, worm, rootkit or spyware program anyways and why should I call for computer service?"

Trojans

A trojan virus is a program that appears safe when you look at it, but when you download and install it it turns out to be a vicious program that attacks your computer, often times installing a worm or spyware.  These programs can cause significant damage to your computer.  A good place to pick up these types of programs is either on file distribution programs such as Kazaa or "warez" and "cracks" sites distributing pirated software or the means to disable the built in protection capabilities.

Worms

A worm is a little program either distributed through an email attachment or through a trojan.  Once executed on your computer the worm makes several copies of itself before going through your email contact lists and sending itself to everyone on your list.  You can imagine the damage that can be done with this type of infection.  It is like spreading something by word of mouth.  One person tells ten people.  Each one of those people tells ten people and so on.  Entire networks have been infected by this type of virus.

Rootkits

A rootkit's primary purpose is to hide files, registry entries, network connections or memory addresses from any special tools that Administrators or technicians use to monitor and detect authorized or unauthorized access to computer resources.  Typical virus or malware removal software can not detect this threat, and thus remove the symptoms, without removing the source.  Installing antivirus or antimalware software after the fact is ineffective, as it will only treat the symptoms, but not provide a cure.

Spyware

Spyware comes in several different variants, but the consistent theme is that it tracks all your internet movements and reports them to the author, it spawns "popup" ads relevant to your movements or toolbars that you can not get rid of.  Others hijack your start page or your web search.  All of them choke the life out of both your computer and your internet connection, gradually bringing it to it's knees as the infection gets worse.  This type of infection can come from visiting websites such as pornography, "warez" and "crack" websites, or downloading "free" software off the internet such as screensavers or Kazaa to name a couple of many.

Most often you are told in the license agreement that you are agreeing to install this malicious software by installing the program, but it is hard to find and nobody reads the licensing agreement anyways.  Websites have code written that automatically installs these programs without you even knowing about it.

Why call for computer service?

These programs can be very challenging to remove from your computer and most often require special tools and manual editing to remove.  A skilled technician can remove any traces of the infection from your computer without having to clean the harddrive and start over.  This means that all of your important data will be intact while your computer performance is restored to like-new condition.

At Northern Protocol Inc. we have the experience and knowledge to skillfully and effectively remove any type of infection from your computer.   We are continuously testing the latest security tools and researching the latest threats.  Before we finish we leave you with tried, tested and true tools to effectively combat or prevent any future infection and, unlike our competitors, we guarantee our work.