There are certain threats that will take out your computer. Your computer may be able to turn on and do some of the things that it was able to do before the threat hit but for the most part it is dead. You are not able to hit certain buttons, pops ups are flying everywhere, you cannot log onto the internet, and basically everything that can go wrong is going wrong. If this ever happens to you, you need to make sure that you have a way to fix it right away. There are a couple of things that you can do. You can keep a back up of the computer so that you can reinstall it to a point where everything was working fine. Or you can do that with something less than a back up. There is a feature in all Windows computers that is called System Restore. We will take the time later on in the article to explain what System Restore is and how you can use it to come back from a serious computer problem.

What is System Restore?

System Restore is sort of like the back up that we talked about earlier in the article but instead of it being on a new device like an external hard drive, it is a snap shot stored in the computer. It mainly saves the settings of how everything was at a previous date on the computer. A pure back up would save all of the data and the settings of the system from that time. With a system restore point, saving the settings is more than enough. With any luck you will be able to go back to a time before everything turned crazy.

Even though you have a system restore point ready to be used, it is still a good idea to try to get out the infection before you try a system restore. The infection that is in the system will not be erased by just you having a system restore point active. As we said before, it changes the setting of the system and not the data. All that will happen is that the malware will infect the machine again. That is not always the case and sometimes a system restore point is all you need. But in the case of a bad piece of malware you will need to do more to make sure you do not have to deal with the same infection again.

When malware attacks you system, you need a good way to be able to fight it. The tools that you have such as antivirus software and antispyware software will be able to help but sometimes you need to do a little more. Sometimes the infection gets so deep that you have very few options. In cases like this you need to set up the system restore on your computer and go back to the past when the system was still working.

If you take a look at Windows 7 and play around with some of the settings then you will probably notice that Microsoft has spent a lot of time making sure that the different parts are secure. They want to help you make sure that your firewall is up, the antivirus is installed and everything else that you need to be secure is ready to go. They have even improved their browser. Internet Explorer is now on its eight version and people agree that it is the safest browser that Microsoft has ever put out. But there is also some software that is not so secure on Windows. Some of the software is provided by Microsoft and others are third party software that people like to install. So let’s take a look at some of the software that can do damage to your system even though it is supposed to be OK to use.

Instant Messaging software

Microsoft provides built in IM service but a lot of people download it from a third parties as well. Instant messenger software can introduce big holes into your system especially if you have someone using the computer that is not considered computer savvy. Hackers will target the software because they can easily send a person links through it. These links will lead to all kind of things. From phising attacks to sites with exploits ready to jump on your computer. This is why you need to stress to people who use your computer that if they are going to use IM then they should not click on links. If they do, they can find themselves and your computer having a nasty surprise.

PDf’s from unknown people

Another piece of software that is known to introduce bugs into the system is called PDf. This is software from Adobe that comes with your computer. The purpose of the software is to imitate on a computer what a magazine of that same file would look like. The web is supposed to look like one thing and a magazine is supposed to look like another. PDF’s are supposed to bridge the gap. But it is not just for magazines, any kind of document can be enhanced by using a PDF file. But the PDF software has many bugs that are out there that people use to exploit systems the software is installed on. If you are not careful then it could be your computer that is getting exploited. Even though you are used to scanning .exe files you might not scan PDF files. You should start to do that now.

There is plenty of software out there that can be used for evil purposes. Most of the software out there is written with millions of lines of code and sometimes in those lines of code, mistakes are made. And when those mistakes are made, hackers take advantage. Make sure that they do not get you by scanning all your files with antivirus.

The one great thing about the Windows 7 operating system that you do not hear about often is how it handles your media files. Sure there are a lot of great things that have been added to Windows 7 such as extra security features and a better UI but media handling has been one of the biggest improvements to the system. Some of these features include the ability to stream media to all points of your house and even the ability to stream to remote places. The one sad thing about these features is that a lot of people do not know about all of them. There are a lot of great things that you can do with some of the new media features that are available. As good as these new features are, you have to ask yourself a question, do they leave your computer vulnerable to attack? In this article we will take a look at this question and see whether it is true or not. But before we do that, let’s take some time and describe to you in detail some of the new media features that are available to you.

How do these new features work?

There are many media features that we can talk about in the Windows 7 operating system. First of all, you now have the ability to stream your music to another computer, no matter where it is at. Microsoft has set up a feature that will allow you to do this easily with the click of a few buttons. Also you now have the power of the full Windows media server at your finger tip. In the past if you wanted this power, you had to buy the Windows Media Server based computer. Now it comes with the operating system. It allows you to record and manipulate TV shows just like you would with the TiVo. But instead of having to pay for an outside service, it is connected directly to your computer. All you have to do is to set up a few wires and you are ready to go. These are a few of the several media tools that people have found useful in the new Windows 7 operating system. Let’s now talk about how it can affect your safety as far as the computer goes. The fact that it opens up a server on your computer can be a concerned at anytime.

Is your security affected?

For the most part, your security will be fine with services such as these on your Windows 7 computer. Microsoft has put in a level of security in the services so you do not leave yourself completely open. But you do have to worry about what files you click on when using the media features. People get media from all different types of sources, some of it illegal and some of it legal. If you are running these services on your computer and you click on the wrong file then you can find yourself in real trouble. When you use these programs, make sure that you follow the same protocols that you would when using other programs on the computer. Make sure that you scan all files.

Just because you are playing a media file does not mean it is automatically safe. Check the file and you should be fine.