How to Tell If Your Computer Has Malware

Although efficient software tools exist to prevent the damage that malware can cause in your PC, the truth is that you are never exempt from your computer being targeted by malicious forces intent on hijacking your data. How can you tell if your computer has malware?

Malware can make its way into your system so subtly that you might not even notice their presence until extreme damage has been done. Take your network security seriously!

Malware infects software on your computer and causes it to not work properly. It can generate various inconveniences, or even cause irremediable damage. Letting your computer fall victim to malware means exposing your business’s sensitive information or even losing valuable data and files. 

How can you tell if your computer has malware, and how can you prevent these issues in the future?

How to Tell If Your Computer Has Malware

There are several ways a computer can become infected by malware, so it is important to carry out a careful evaluation process which will give you a detailed diagnosis. To know if you need to take action against malware, assess whether your computer has any of the following symptoms:

• Automatic execution of some programs
• Programs that try to access the Internet without authorization
• Friends or contacts tell you that they received a message from you when you never sent one
• The appearance of a large number of “No Subject” emails in your email inbox
• Frequent operating system crashes
• Sometimes your operating system does not start
• Programs become much slower in their normal processes
• Partial or total loss of files and folders, or you notice that on some occasions the contents are modified without your authorization

Does your computer seem different? Does it have new performance problems and strange messages that appear? These, surely, are the signs of an infection from one of the many threats that are present when you or your staff surf the Internet.

Is Your Computer Very Slow?

A common symptom of malware is slower than normal computer speed. However, there may be other reasons for poor performance, such as a hard drive that needs to be fragmented or a computer that needs more memory (RAM). Continue looking for signs of malware if your computer is slow.

A malware infection may cause a computer to be slow. Virtual threats such as viruses, worms, Trojans, and other malicious programs perform tasks while infiltrating your computer that consume many resources, causing the system to run slower than usual. It may freeze or crash more often than usual, too.

Do Unexpected Messages Pop Up, Or Do Programs Start Automatically?

Some malwarees can damage Windows or other programs that have been downloaded onto your computer. The results of such corruption can include unexpectedly displayed messages or programs that start or close automatically.

Is The Modem or Hard Drive Working Harder Than Necessary? 

One potential indicator of malware is that the activity light on the broadband modem is constantly on or flashing brightly all the time. Another indicator is the sound of the hard disk of the computer working continuously. These symptoms do not always represent the presence of malware, but they can indicate a malware infection combined with other problems. 

Do Your Applications Not Start?

When one or more of your computer’s applications do not respond or when programs stop working entirely, it is clear that something is not working correctly. There is certain malware that targets attacks on specific applications or programs, preventing them from operating correctly. 

Have Your Personal Files Disappeared?

This type of situation is worrying. There are threats aimed at erasing or encrypting information. This may include moving documents from one place to another on your same computer, so be sure to look out for this. There may be a lack of storage space that doesn’t seem to match the number of files you have on your system.

Has Your Antivirus Disappeared? Is Your Firewall Disabled?

Another typical characteristic of many threats is disabled security systems such as antivirus softwares, firewalls, and others that you have installed on your system. If a program is uninstalled it may mean a specific software failure, but when all security components are disabled, your system is infected.

Opening a browser and clicking on a link on the web is as natural as blinking. In and of itself, this isn’t a dangerous thing to do, but it raises certain problems we click on the wrong link. 

It’s difficult to know how to tell if your computer has malware. For help detecting and preventing malware, get in touch with an IT professional at Total IT today.