Anti Virus Removal - Courses/Training??

mumof2

(Mods, pls move if incorrectly posted :oThanks.)

Is there such a thing as doing some type of course to learn about the removal of viruses on computers/laptops etc? I'm sick to the teeth of being asked about it, because I know my way around a computer quite well, but havn't a clue how to find out it there is a virus on a computer or how to remove them. I'd love to at this stage, and would do a course of some sort.

Any tips?

Stary

I suggest that you approach a local compter repair shop and ask them to take you on for work experience (for Free). You will pick up a lot of knowledge by doing this. S

BoB_BoT

There's no course as such, only experience. If you look around different sites, you'll find guides on how to read registries, identify how to spot problems, how to resolve them. The internet really is your best reference for this. As new virus are released, no course can prepare you for their removal. Most issues are resolved with a good antivirus and a hard disk caddy.

Again, you'll learn best through experience, trial and error. And the best way to do this is on infected pcs. The best way to get experience doing this is to be offering virus removal as a service / work for someone company as already pointed out.

If you're going on your own, start small, offering it to friends and family, when you're confident you can handle it, branch out.

Also, checkout the virus and malware removal forum

Lazarus2.0

Online courses are available free of charge at the sites below . You may have to wait for a slot to become available but patience is a virtue (and a prerequisite of malware removal)


http://www.malwareremoval.com/university.php

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic86678.html

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Would-you-like-to-learn-to-fight-malware-t4817.html

stylers

don't know if there's a course to cover this - its only by hands on experience that you'd get good at it. there are a few very good software tools to help too (google is your best friend), but basically you'd need to be able to mess with the registry in comfort (back it up and restore parts of it if necessary), and know what should / shouldn't be running on a machine, and get to know the common processes that would be running from all the usual necessary software.

when things get very tricky, how to boot windoze in safe mode, boot to recovery console from XP disc, slave a drive in another box (last resort but good to know), and use of some sysinternals tools. some malware is incredibly difficult to remove without these techniques.

then when a box is reasonably clean, how to remove useless AV products and how to setup / use decent ones.
how to get windoze and browser up to scratch for the real world.
how to educate users on what to/not to do, and safe browsing/online security if necessary.
also get users to do backups and install backup software if necessary.

things change fast, and new types of worms and malware are constantly appearing, so don't be afraid to use forums or google to identify whats happening.

mumof2

Thanks soooooo much for your replies!!!! Wow I didn't think it was that simple to learn - I genuinely thought one would need to go to IT college or something high tech:D

Dont have a clue about registries, but can do the basic clean up and inprove computer performance, delete internet history, cookies temp files and that sort of stuff. But backing up and restoring piece by piece - sounds scary, however I used to do daily backups on to zip drives for a company, and restore if required.

Will check out the links, have a lot of reading to do, including finding out whats allowed software wise (addons etc) on the PC before I start anything:)

Thanks again to everyone.