Have you noticed that your PC is a bit slow lately or that some strange processes are active in the background? Then you may have fallen victim to malware. But the signs are not always clear. That’s why I give five ways to check if you have become a victim of the malware.
Of course, the best way to find out if you have malware is to run a system-wide scan. If all goes well, you automatically do that already but suppose that you don’t. What are the signs that point to malware?
If your computer becomes sluggish overnight, this could be a sign that it has malware on it. Especially when simple apps such as the calculator suddenly open very slowly.
Malware can take up a lot of computing power in the background, leaving your computer with no system resources for your tasks. Nowadays, you can also do this through your browser, for example, to mine crypto coins.
Your browser gets redirected to another website at the oddest moments. For example, you open Google, and you end up on a site you don’t know with some unknown search engine with all kinds of advertising. Even then, you know you are suffering from malware.
If pop-ups constantly appear on your screen, even when you don’t have any browsers open, you can assume that you have malware (or at least bloatware) on your PC. But, again, the intention is to make money by having people click on these pop-ups and being sent to websites.
Pop-ups constantly appear with threatening notifications from security software you don’t know. Software that especially urges you to take action now (because otherwise…). Fear is always an excellent trigger to make people think less. Run a scan with Malwarebytes as soon as possible if you are bothered by these kinds of messages.
If you come across processes in your operating system’s task manager that you don’t know about and that isn’t usually there, this could be a sign of malware. Search the Internet for the name of such a process to see if it is indeed something unwanted.
Moreover, such processes often run constantly, even when you are not using your computer. Therefore, if you notice disk activity and the like when no backup or maintenance processes are running, it is good to check for malware.
Messages suddenly appear on Twitter and Facebook from your name that you didn’t post at all. So that something is going on is inevitable, and it is vital to do something about it as soon as possible because often these messages cause you to infect others. Incidentally, it is not necessarily the case that you have malware on your PC; it could also be that your social media account has ‘simply’ been hacked.
The same applies to email messages and other communication tools. Do people suddenly get strange emails or messages in your name? You may have been hacked, or you may be dealing with malware. Incidentally, we wrote an article earlier on ‘what to do if your social media has been hacked. Be sure to read that one too.
Some malware causes your antivirus program to stop working, or specific system tools cannot be loaded, making the malware more difficult to detect and remove. If you notice that such programs are not running correctly, it is best to look for an alternative scanner to see if you are dealing with malware.
However, it is not always the case that your computer has such symptoms. Sometimes you may not notice anything at all. But if you suspect malware, it’s always a good idea to scan your computer with your current scanner plus a second scanner for a second opinion, just in case your scanner has been affected by the malware.
OK, so you’ve discovered that you have malware, so what can you do about it? First, install software as fast as lightning to protect you against it and help you get rid of it.
Even if you already had antivirus software on your PC, it is wise to use a new tool. Your old software failed to stop the malware. Once the virus has slipped through, your antivirus tool has nothing more to say. Ideally, you should run your new program in an environment where the malware can’t load first, such as via Linux. However, before choosing that option, try booting into Windows Safe Mode to see if you can resolve the virus infection there.
It could be that your system is in such a mess that a clean install is your only option to get things back on track. So make sure you make a backup of your important files, if still possible. Hopefully, after following the tips in this article, it won’t have to come to that!
