Unfortunately many modern viruses are able to deactivate virus detection software or "hide" themselves, fooling virus protection software into thinking that they are safe. A user should contact us if there system is behaving erratically or displaying any common virus symptoms.  Viruses can cause a vast array of problems but the most common symptoms include:

• Being redirected from one website to a different one
• Random "pop-ups" informing the user that they are infected and encouraging them to pay for hoax software.
• Websites and web browsing producing more "pop ups" and adverts than usual.
• Computer slowdown - A noticeable computer speed decrease over time, potentially accompanied with a web browsing speed decrease.
• Anti-Virus software acting erratically.

These are some of the more common symptoms of harmful viruses on your computer, however it is far from a comprehensive list due to the amount of potential problems a virus can cause.  It is important to remember that the problems a virus cause usually get progressively worse over time and removal at an early stage can prevent later harm.

This is difficult to answer as often a virus won't produce many initial symptoms.  Some particularly harmful viruses lay idle for a period of time after initiation before activating on a set date potentially causing data loss.

Unfortunately there is no easy way for a user to detect if they have activated such a virus.  Such viruses are usually disguised as a file that can be downloaded (could be anything from a screensaver to something more complicated and fuller) and does not contain what the user expected, or contains something additional.

If you suspect a file you opened or downloaded of being malicious then it is strongly recommended that you have your PC checked to avoid later disappointments and costs.  In most cases if you have recently downloaded something and it wasn't what you expected or simply didn't work then there is a high chance you could be infected.  We would be able to identify and remove such a problem, as well as potentially increasing the operating speed of your computer as part of our call-out PC Health Check.

Computer slowdown is a common symptom of many viruses, however, this is often accompanied with other symptoms. Computers often become become slower over time with normal general usage due to various software being installed and uninstalled creating conflicts in the registry, and various programmes running services upon start-up.  If computer slowness is your only symptom then it's more likely to be this type of problem than a virus.

We can still help however, because for our standard £35 fee we'll come to your house and do a complete health check designed specifically for this purpose.  This service significantly increases the operating speed of a computer suffering from slowdown and includes a registry clean-up, a clean-up of non-needed processes that run upon start-up and the identification of any viruses.

Yes, this is a very common symptom of being infected with a virus. The reason this happens is that a virus can direct traffic to websites that it specifically chooses mainly so that the virus creator can earn money from adverts that would be displayed to you.

More serious viruses will also redirect banking websites to their own servers so that you think you are on the correct website, but in fact all the details you enter will be sent to the virus creators instead. Not nice stuff!

Absolutely! The whole point of our fixed fee policy is to put your mind at ease when calling us out. This way you will always know that after we have been there you will only have paid £35, and your problem will be fixed. If it's not, you don't pay us a penny.

As long as you are within our service area, then no we don't charge a callout fee. Currently our area covers a 30 mile radius of Colchester.

As long as the virus returned due to no fault of your own then we will be pleased to come out and fix it again for free.
If however we come and find you have installed something again which as brought the virus back onto your PC, then we will charge an additional £35 fee.

When you first contact us with a problem we will always try and find out as much information as possible before we come. This way, situations like this are very rare because we can usually tell from the initial correspondence whether or not you have a virus.

If upon inspection it turns out that it is something other than a virus causing the issue then your issue will still be identified and resolved for the same £35 fixed fee.

If we come and find that there is no problem even after our phone calls then we will still charge our £35 fixed fee, but for this price we will include a full PC system health check (which can increase performance) and hopefully give you some valuable advice. We aim to please after all!

We do go outside of our normal area from time to time, but because of fuel costs we are forced to charge a small call out fee for this. Just contact us with your location and we'll let you know how much extra it will be.

It varies from issue to issue, but we certainly wouldn't rule out phoning us just because of this. If we can't resolve the issue in your house then we don't charge so you really have nothing to lose.

We can! Vella Technology understands that people work all times of the day so we are pretty flexible with our working hours. We can come out to your house anytime between 9am to 9pm 7 days a week, but even if this is not convenient for you then simply ask! We go out of our way to please our customers and we'll usually be more than happy to visit at a time that's best for you.

It should be noted however that our normal office hours are 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday, which means we would usually only take phone calls during this time. We do sometimes work late or at weekends so you could always try your luck at other times. If we aren't around, there is an answer phone service which will we respond to as quickly as possible, or alternatively you could email us at email@vellatech.com.

We would usually recommend not to use your infected computer until the problem is resolved as certain viruses can spread throughout your computer causing more damage and disruption with only general usage.

As long as the virus hasn't already changed your settings or modified/deleted your personal files then in most cases all your settings and files will be safe. The only time that this isn't the case is when Windows needs to be reinstalled, but this is only in severe cases and even then we would look to preserve all your personal files.

This is always very difficult question to answer because it depends on what the virus is and how badly your computer is infected. On average though we estimate that a virus removal takes between 1 and 2 hours.