Unfortunately, it happens.

You open your Outlook and there’s an appealing email sent to you with an even more intriguing attachment that catches your eye.

You’ve opened it, because how could you resist?

And now, you notice your computer running a bit slower than usual, or you’re experiencing more pop-ups online, among other odd things.

Don’t feel too bad, this happens often.

The important thing now is not to dwell on the past, but to begin taking the steps to take your computer back from the grasp of a nasty virus.

Before your computer is used to attack other computers or you begin to lose files, there are a handful of steps you should take before it becomes too late to get your computer back to normal.

They key is to act quickly.

Isolate Your Computer

This is going to be the first thing you’ll want to do once you realize your computer is in danger.

While your computer is still connected to the network, it’s able to communicate with the outside world and other computers.

Isolating your computer will stop that connection and prevent the hacker from gaining more information.

 Here’s how to do this:

1. Pull the network cable out of the PC and turn off the WiFi connection.

2. If it’s a laptop that is in danger and not a PC, turn the WiFi off in the settings.

You may think it’s a safe bet to rely on your software to do this for you, but the malware might lie to you and say it’s turned off when it really isn’t.

So, it’s better to be safe than sorry and just do it yourself.

 Check it out: A Small Business and Internet User's Guide to Cyber Attacks (Infographic)

Shutdown and Remove the Hard Drive 

You’re going to want to get that hard drive out of there ASAP.

First, shut the computer down, then pull out the hard drive.

Once your computer is shut down and the hard drive is in your hand, find another computer to connect the hard drive to.

The secondary computer should have up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware.

 To make your life as easy as possible during this time, consider using a USB drive caddy to put the hard drive into to make it easy to connect to the other PC.

If this device is not available to you and you need to put the hard drive in manually to the secondary PC, just make sure that the drive is set as a secondary and not a master drive, or it may very well boot your second PC to your infected operating system.

YIKES.

If neither of these options are really your speed, you can take your PC or laptop into a trusted, local PC repair shop.

Check it out: How To Recognize These Common Phishing Hacks

Backup the Hard Drive

While the hard drive contains all of your personal data and information, you’ll want to scan the drive to make sure there is no virus on the file system.

Once you’ve done a scan, you’re ready to get all of your information off the drive.

You can move all of your photos, documents, and media onto another clean hard drive.

Once the new hard drive is ready, move it back to your old, first PC that was previously infected.

Don’t forget to also set your drive back to “Master” from the secondary setting.

Reinstall Everything

Before you do anything else, you need to make sure everything is secure.

Begin loading and reinstalling all of the security-related software.

Make sure all your anti-virus is up-to-date before you begin loading any other applications.

Just in case some of those apps harness any threats, including malware, that could slip by.

 Again, it’s better to be safe than sorry, so scan your backups for viruses to ensure everything is now clean.

Check it out: Infographic: What Is Attacking My Computer?

Backup the Whole System

Once everything is back in a functional and secure working order, perform a complete backup.

In the event this happens again, you won’t have to spend nearly as much time clearing and reloading your whole system.

It’s also a good idea to back-up everything in case some files are compromised during the hack.

Check it out: What Is Malware? (Video) 

Reset Passwords

Something people may forget to do after their computer is secure again is reset their passwords.

For that short period of time, your computer was exposed to a hack or some virus, your personal accounts could have been in danger as well.

 Since the passwords are typically the thing hackers are really after to gain access to your personal accounts and private information, it’s a good idea to go through and change your passwords.

Make them very different from the last ones and even a bit more complicated by adding numbers, spaces, or other special characters.

This includes passwords to social media accounts, bank logins, and email accounts.

If you are unable to change your passwords, you should call the company to freeze your account/s.

It would also be a good idea to set up 2 factor authentication.

This is an extra layer of security to verify the user is really you when logging onto your phone, computer, and different applications.

How to Prevent Being Hacked

• Check privacy settings on all your social profiles and applications. Ensure you are only sharing information with your friends and not the public.

• Don’t use public computers or public WiFi to make any transactions or share sensitive information, such as bank information or passwords.

• Use strong passwords with a mix of letter, numbers, and capitalization. Change them frequently.

• Malware can hide in pop-ups and ads. Don’t click on them.

• Don’t click on links that you are unfamiliar with or that look suspicious. *Tip: Long click links to inspect them before clicking them to open the link.

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