As in our real world, everything we do involves risk, and Internet is not an exception independent of the software solutions you may have. It's evolving continuously and it important to stay tuned to this risk.

Until last week I was somehow relaxed regarding virus, at home and at work, as I have the latest software solutions for one and another. However I read a few things this weekend and all of a sudden got worried and the first thing I did on Monday morning was check all the computers I usually access.

On Windows based computers, their is a tools called netstat, you'll have to run it from a command line:

If you run netstat /? you see all the functions available

If you run netstat -a you'll see all the links you have from your computer outwards

If you run netstat -b you'll see all the active files that activate the links

In theory if you have you computer on, with no program running, netstat will return information that you can quickly understand, as normal linking. Obviously if you have a server, you'll see all liking active to your server, an so on. When you hook up to the Internet, you'll see the files that are being used to link to the Internet (netstat -b), if you see something suspicious don't panic, I'll give you some tips that may solve your problem.

First run a complete virus scan with your software, it'll take a while, actually all the procedures I'm going to give you will be time consuming, but hopefully solve your problem at the end.

No results with your software. Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool is your next option, unfortunately it's not easy to find, but you'll have it on your PC just look for a file MRT.exe in the following directory: c:\Windows\System32

If no positive results, you should try running it in security mode. Restart your computer in security mode and run the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.

Next option is installing Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Software, you can download it from their site on the Internet:

www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

It's a very handy software to have installed on your PC.

Another software capable of helping you solve your problem is called Super Anti-Spyware. To download it: www.superantispyware.com

I've got two more suggestions: Hijackthis very suggestive name, you can download it at: www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis

It'll give you a quick information about your system, if someone is trying to hack it. It analyzes your registry and gives you a full report (.log file). However if you don't know much about registry keys, you'll have some difficulty in evaluating the report.

My last suggestion on this issue is a very good software that is good to have around: Sophos Anti-Rootkit www.sophos.com/products/free-tools/sophos-anti-rootkit.html. Hopefully by the time you reach this software your problem may already be solved.

Good luck, and remember the Internet is a good place to be, but we have to be cautious with the information we have.