These days, computer operating systems have become a lot better at protecting users from online threats like malware and viruses. However, at the end of the day, if you aren’t careful, you can still get your computer infected. So, how do you know if your computer has been infected by malware, and more importantly, how can you remove it?
Signs Of Being Infected By Malware
If one day out of the blue, your PC starts to act up and does things that it normally would not, that is a possible sign that something could be wrong. There could be many reasons why this could be, such as aging hardware, a component that is broken and not functioning properly, a bug in the operating system, or it could also be a sign of something more sinister.
For example, if you start noticing your PC running a lot slower than usual, it could be malware running in the background that’s consuming your PC’s resources. So how do you check for it?
How To Check For Malware
A quick and simple way to check for malware would be to look at your Task Manager in Windows to see what apps or services are being run at the moment.
- Launch Task Manager
- Under Processes, look for software or services that looks unfamiliar
- Right click the process and select “Search online”
What this does is that it searches online for the process to see if other people have the same process running on their computers. Sometimes a process might not be familiar to you but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is malware or a virus. If you still can’t find what’s going on, then perhaps it’s time to do a scan.
- Launch Windows Security
- Select “Virus & threat protection”
- Click “Quick scan”
- If you prefer, you can click “Scan options” and choose a full scan if you want a more thorough search
- If a virus or malware has been detected, you will then have the option to remove it from your PC
Like we said, these days operating systems are becoming better at protecting us from online threats and malware, but it’s always a good idea to be mindful of what you do online to prevent yourself from getting infected in the first place. This includes:
- Not opening emails or email attachments from people you don’t know
- Click on suspicious links sent from text messages or websites
- Always double check to make sure that an email or website you visit are who they claim to be
- Avoid downloading or running .exe (executable files) from untrusted sources
Filed in . Read more about Hack, Malware, Security and Social Hit.