Before we can know how to get rid of trojan virus we need to specify exactly what it is and how it differs from a normal computer virus. A trojan horse virus is a form of malware (malicious software) that leaves your computer open to attack, and derives its name from the famous Greek legend of The Trojan Horse.

The Trojan Horse was used by the ancient Greeks to trick their way into the once impregnable city of the Trojans (Troy) and secretly send in soldiers to open the gates and allow the rest of the Greek army in to take over and conquer the city.

In the same way, computer trojan viruses disguise themselves as seemingly harmless pieces of software or desired files, but then “open the gates” to other forms of malicious software, spyware, keyloggers etc…leaving you open to anything from someone stealing your credit card information, to some basement-dwelling geek gaining remote access to your computer and files. So the trojan virus’ real damage is done in its ability to compromise your computer’s security and leave it open to other dangers.

So while a normal computer virus is lethal in itself and can “mutate” and infect other parts of your system, the trojan allows other digital nasties in through the back door. The good news is that this makes it easier to identify and get rid of trojan virus.

How did you get the trojan virus on your computer?

As mentioned above, the trojan virus is often disguised as a normal looking file, so maybe it was an mp3 music file, a patch for a game, an online video, or even a jpeg image file. Either way, it’s on your computer, so how do you get rid of trojan horse virus?

Here are the 5 things you need to do right now to get rid of trojan horse virus and avoid it returning:

1. Make sure your anti-virus software is up-to-date and includes all the latest patches and virus, spyware definitions. This will be your first port of call when trying to get rid of trojan virus.

2. Run a system and registry scan to identify the evil trojan virus and then zap it into oblivion to get rid of it. Since it resides within an unimportant file you can easily delete it to get rid of trojan virus – whereas other computer viruses are more tricky to get rid of and need to be “quarantined” to stop them infecting other files on your system.

3. If you know the name of the trojan horse virus then you can check online for information on how to get rid of the trojan virus in question. Microsoft has regular updates on it’s site about trojan viruses that affect Windows machines. Online forums also provide you a wealth of information about how to get rid of a trojan horse virus.

4. You could also try to get rid of the trojan virus manually. Check your Task Manager (press Ctrl +Alt +Del on Windows) to identify any programs that may be running in the background that shouldn’t be – i.e. they started without your knowledge. If you see any such program, make a note of it’s name, click its name to highlight it and click End Task. Open your Control Panel (click the Start menu) and use the Add/Remove programs to find the nasty blighter in question and get rid of it. Be careful with this though as you may end up wrongly deleting a file that is important to your system.

5. Overall you should take a look at your online habits and see how certain actions may compromise the security of your computer and your personal information. If you use Peer-2-Peer (P2P) file-sharing networks then take extra care on what you download, and make sure everything is run through your anti-virus / spyware scanning software first, to get rid of trojan virus that may be attempting to access your system.

How many of your personal details do you enter on your computer on a regular basis? For instance, do you bank online, or pay bills or a credit card? Perhaps you buy gifts and other purchases online? According to CNN, if you use the internet there is a 90% chance that your computer is infected with spyware. How can you be sure that your information is not being viewed by a third party right now?