Picture this: You’re on your computer finishing up a major work assignment that’s due in two hours. Suddenly, your screen freezes, your keyboard isn’t working, and your cursor won’t budge. Before you realize what’s going on, your computer crashes, all your work disappears, and the screen goes black.

Then, it hits you: Someone or something has control of your computer. You have a computer virus or computer malware. All is hopeless, and there’s no way you can ever recover your work again – right?

Never fear, NerdsToGo is here! We understand that computer viruses are scary and frustrating, which is why we’re here to help you get your computer up and running in tip-top shape. Here, we share our best tips to help prevent your computer from getting a virus, and how to remove a computer virus if you do happen to get one.

Best Ways To Prevent A Computer Virus

There are many online tools claiming they are the best virus removal software, even more claiming to be “free” virus removal tools. The best way to keep your computer virus free is to never download these free or cheap tools claiming they can remove viruses from your computer. At best these virus removal tools won’t get the virus fully removed from your computer, and at worst they will actually be a virus or malware themselves.

To ensure your machine stays virus free it’s important never download 3rd part software you are not familiar with. Also never download files from suspicious emails you receive or ads you see online or on social media. Some malware is tricky to identify as harmful to your computer, so make sure to never download anything onto your computer unless you know exactly where it came from. If you are ever in doubt, just take the high road and don’t download it! The best virus removal is preventing the virus from getting on your machine in the first place.

Here is a list of common causes of computer viruses:

Accepting popups or installations without reading the prompt
Downloading viruses bundled with other software
Opening unsafe email attachments
Connecting to an infected hard drive, thumb drive, or disk
Not updating Windows or your antivirus software
Not having antivirus software installed and running
Pirating unsafe media content

If you think your computer has been infected with a virus, the only way to ensure complete removal is to bring it to a professional computer technician. The computer experts at NerdsToGo will be able to perform a computer virus removal and give you tips on how to prevent another virus from infecting your machine in the future.

Clean Up Your Mac or PC

Is your computer virus free but still running to slow? In this case, it might be time to clean up the files on your PC or Mac. There are many ways to do this including online computer cleaning software, but those tools can often be misleading and not give the desired results.

The best way to clean up your computer is to look at your hard drive and see what files you may be able to delete or transfer to a separate external hard drive for storage. Often times when a computer’s hard drive is full, your computer will not run at peak performance. In this case, it’s best to audit the files on your computer and get rid of junk files on your computer you don’t need.

These files can include things found in your “downloads” folder, as well as applications you may not need on your computer anymore. Have tons of photos and videos stored on your computer’s local hard drive? Considering getting a separate external hard drive to store these files on to free your computer up for other important applications and software. If you are unsure what applications and files can be removed from your computer, NerdsToGo can help by showing you the best ways to clean up your computer’s hard drive and startup disk.

NerdsToGo Computer Virus Removal

Our Nerds are all Mac and PC virus removal experts! No matter what type of computer you have or what virus or malware is on it, the technicians at your local NerdsToGo can help remove it and show you how to keep your computer virus free for the remainder of its life.

Don’t waste time and energy trying to remove a computer virus that is determined to stay. Contact NerdsToGo today to see how our Nerds can help with all your computer needs!