If you’ve been alive long enough and been sick enough times, you can just sort of telling when something’s not right with your body. A tickle in the back of your throat, fatigue when you’ve slept plenty the night before, soreness in your joints, or that miserable pressure behind your eyes can all be classic signs that your body has a virus and that you need to get some help quickly before it gets a lot worse.
Your standard desktop or laptop computer is not much different than your body when it comes to registering the signs of a virus. It usually starts when things are moving much more sluggish than normal. You might glimpse a random ad appear that shouldn’t be the re, or notice a new icon or web browser when you start up that definitely was not there when you went to bed. This checklist will give you great insight into indications that a virus is present and what you can do about it.
Check Your Processes
Processes are the items that are running on your computer at the moment. Obvious ones are your web browser, your email system, your music provider, etc. You can usually see them by running the Task Manager. What you want to look for here is anything you’ve never heard of before or any numbers that seem way too larger than could possibly be normal.
For instance, if Google Chrome is taking up 13% of your CPU, but 85% of your memory, it likely is infected with a virus that is running overtime trying to collect your information and send out its feelers to anyone else’s system to see where else it can visit.
What about Those Pop-ups?
If you see pop-ups without being online, you’re just about guaranteed to have a virus. The only other time this will happen is if your computer manufacturer or operating system is sending you a message about an update or an expiration.
If there are other popups showing up when you log on advertising mainly in text or suggesting that something is wrong with your device, know that it’s very likely adware that is trying to get you to click on it to send you to a website where you will knowingly or unknowingly download something vicious.
Get a good Antivirus Software and Run It
Most computers come with built-in antivirus software and that’s an OK solution if you don’t have anything else. But there are plenty of solid free antivirus packages to download, and for a few dollars more you can have a really impressive one like BitDefender. It is smart software with a constantly updating database to keep pace with the rapid deployment of new malware taking place every day around the world. When you make the investment, use it to its fullest. Run a full scan right away and schedule quick scans and full scans at opportune times throughout the month. If anything suspicious shows up, don’t wait, run a full scan to confirm your suspicions right away.
