How to Tell When Your Computer is Infected with a Virus

Getting infected with an unknown virus is the last thing that you want to happen. When your computer is infected, you want to fix it as soon as
possible. Not being able to detect the virus right away can cause a great amount of damage, not just on your computer but also on your important
files.

There are thousands of viruses that can infect your computer. There are are worms, trojan horse, boot sector attacks, time bombs and many more. These viruses can eat up some space on your computer, stop devices from functioning, corrupt some files or even disconnect the user from the network.

Here, are some indications that your computer is infected:
1. If you are using anti-virus software, a notification will give an update informing you of the threat. As it scans your computer regularly, it also provides updates like virus detections. If you have an updated and comprehensive anti-virus, it will immediately remove the virus and heal
your computer.

2. If you are not using any anti-virus software, or if the virus got by your antivirus, there are different indications that your computer has a virus. Some of them are the following:

a. Your computer suddenly becomes unstable. Some malware has the ability to mess up with your files that keep your computer running smoothly.

b. Your computer runs slower than usual. In this situation, the virus drains the resources of your computer.

c. You receive messages informing you that you can’t access the drives on your computer. In addition, other devices connected to your computer like a printer may seem not to work at all.

d. You notice that the sizes of your files change even without modifying or accessing them.

e. If you see that your menus look distorted or odd, that definitely is a sign of virus.

f. The virus might be bold enough to come right out and tell you that you are infected.

g. You might lose control of your computer, the screen will change, mouse will rush around, programs will open etc...

Now the above things don’t guarantee that you are infected, but they are all indicators you might be. If you think you have detected a virus on your computer, you just need to remain calm. Though there’s a need to act urgently, it still pays to remain composed.

The first step I would take is to do a virus scan, if the virus has disabled your anti virus, you will know you are dealing with something serious. In most cases you will find the virus and it will be healed.

If your computer has become too unstable to use, then you should turn it off, disconnect form net and research the potential problems/solutions using a clean computer. In almost every case, if you do a Google search on your computer’s symptoms, you will find out which virus you have and how to fix it.