To Protect Or Not To Protect? 5 Simple Tips For Getting Rid Of Trojan Horse (Malware)

Trojan horse is one of the most prolific and insidious malware that there is on the internet today. It could appear innocuous but make no mistake, it is dangerous. According to reports, Trojan horse also known simply as Trojan, makes up over 60% of computer malware.

Under the guise of profitable software, this malware manifests when downloaded from the internet. Trojan is not like the average virus or worm in the sense that it does not self multiply. The power lies in ‘incognito’, and the moment an infected software is downloaded is the moment their power is unleashed.

Like other malware, trojan horse can delete, update, shut down and restart computer systems. It has the capacity to act as a backdoor, allowing hackers to operate remotely, and is able to steal financial data. Trojan is able to achieve this feat by capturing keystrokes, be it bank details, password, or any strokes made by the keyboard. The captured data is later used to access target systems, and the rest they say is history.

That is why computer users are advised to change their password every so often, and that is why it is unsafe to use the same password on every system. Before offering tips for eliminating the Trojan horse, the following account would perhaps, help shed more light on the type of malware the computer world is dealing with.

The name Trojan is derived from a Greek anecdote. Legend has it that the Greek’s beguiled the city of Troy by presenting them with a gigantic wooden horse gift. The gift was a sign of peace between the two nations. Delighted at last that tranquillity was about to reign, Troy gladly accepted the gift. What they however, failed to realised was that the alluring gift, while well packaged and exquisitely decorated, also contained some Greek solders. That is, a few Greek military forces were hiding in the horse.

Carefully tacked in the beautiful present, these concealed Greek soldiers climbed out of the horse while the city of Troy laid asleep late in the night. They opened the city gate to their comrades, who have been waiting patiently on the other side of the gate. The rest is history, because the once secured and guarded city of Troy became a subdued nation.

So what is the message or morale here? Not all that glitters is gold, I guess. Some software downloads may look promising or even attractive but behind it may be a Trojan horse – it could be messengers of Trojan.

Tips for dealing with malware.

1. Use system restore to restore the computer to a previous state
2. Remove the malware system by using Add/remove program on your computer system
3. Where the problem is proving impossible to deal with, reboot your system to safe mode by pressing the windows ‘F8’ key, and then use the Add/Remove program to get rid of it
4. Install Anti malware program
5. Always make sure your system is updated