A computer virus is a software program that has been intentionally created to cause you grief, spread to other computers, or destroy data on your computer. To help prevent your computer from becoming infected by a virus, software developers have developed anti virus programs that stay active on a computer helping to protect it. It is important to realise that many computers do not come pre-loaded with these already installed and if your computers came with one of these programs, the programs may expire within 90 days, unless you purchased it.

Microsoft Internet Explorer users can go to 'Tools' (or the little cog icon in the top left), then go to 'Safety' and choose 'Delete browsing history...', you can then choose to delete your Internet cookies. In Google Chrome, go to 'More Tools' and choose 'Clear browsing data...'. Firefox users can go to 'History', then choose 'Clear recent history...'.

To get into the Windows 7 / 10 Safe mode, as the computer is starting up press and hold your "F8 Key" which should bring up the "Windows Advanced Options Menu". Use your arrow keys to move to "Safe Mode" and press your Enter key. To get into Mac Safe Mode, press and hold the Shift key immediately after you hear the startup tone. Release the Shift key when the Apple logo appears. Safe Boot appears on the Mac OS X startup screen.

Users who have an optical mechanical mouse (most common mouse for desktop computers) are likely experiencing erratic behaviour because the mouse is not clean or is dirty. If you've cleaned the mouse and continue to encounter issues and this mouse has worked in the past fine unfortunately your mouse is likely defective. One additional test that can be done to help determine if this is the case or not is to connect the mouse to another computer. Otherwise we suggest replacing the mouse.

Make sure the monitor is on. If no power light (green or orange light) is seen on the monitor display try pressing the power button until it comes on. If your computer monitor was on and you stepped away from the computer and upon returning it was black, it's likely that the computer is asleep. Try moving your mouse, clicking the mouse buttons, and/or pressing any key (space bar) on the keyboard to wake it up. Make sure that the monitor is connected properly to the back of the computer.