9+ Warning Signs that Your Computer is Malware-Infected

As we all know that there is no specific viruses season for computers. Your computer can be infected anytime and corrupt your valuable documents, files. There can be a scene where you want to open a file on your machine but it takes much time to load and open the file or you are working on some important project and suddenly unwanted Ad pop-ups appear on the screen.

This is the time when we ask yourself, 

Is My Computer Virus-infected? Or Does My Computer contain a virus?

Sadly, the answer could be yes. As every other house is connected to the Internet through Wi-fi or any third-party device and many companies use the Internet to conduct their business, their IT security becomes more vulnerable to cyber-criminals, hackers or viruses. Hence, it is even more important to recognize whether your computer is under threat from malicious software to defend from these viruses.

Now the question is, How do you know if your computer's security is under threat?

There are many reasons or behavior of your computer which show that it is malware-infected and some are been listed below:

• Unwanted Pop-ups: The most annoying sign of malware is the unwanted pop-up ads displaying on the screen in the middle of some other important task. Pop-ups appear from clicking on different pages, answering survey questions to access the service of a website or installing free software. Unexpected ad's and pop-ups which appear on the system are the sign of a spyware infection. To recover this type of infection from your system, you need an Adware Protection of NPAV.  
• Computer Programs Slowdown: This is the most common symptom to know that your computer is malware-infected. Malware has the tendency to slow down the operating system, the speed of the application or programs and even your Internet speed. However, instead of running directly on a conclusion, you should check if there are some other causes to your computer slowing down by checking the RAM size or even the other causes of a slow system like lack of space on your hard drive and damaged hardware. Once you are done checking for these behaviors then you can say that your computer is malware-infected.
• System Crashes: There are only two reasons behind the system crashes i.e. due to malware infection or due to some technical problem in your system. You might not have installed the latest drivers for your computer or the programs you’re running could possibly be incompatible with your hardware. If none of these problems are apparent on your PC then the virus could be conflicting with other programs causing your crashes. 
• New browser homepage, toolbars or unwanted websites are automatically accessed without your input: All of a sudden, your home page has been changed with some new toolbar which is placed unevenly at some corner of the tab. And, any random website gets opened automatically. Sometimes, even when you are browsing something and you are been re-directed to some annoying website and you accidentally click on a pop-up or link which triggers an unwanted software to download and install on your machine. So, it is advisable to run a complete scan Spyware protection of NPAV.

• Unusual error messages: If you see an unusual error message saying that you are missing or corrupt files folders on your computer, it could be a warning sign that is infected with malware. These type of messages can suggest your PC has been compromised and affect its system performance, making the programs run slowly. Be aware of these errors, run NPAV antivirus and make sure your operating system is up to date using vulnerability scan of NPAV.
• Unusual emails or messages are been send to any of your random contacts: If your friends start receiving instant email or messages by your name from any social media platform asking to visit a site, click on a link or download and install an application. This can be a case where your account is been infected with some virus which is in the process to spread to different computers through your account. If so, then immediately log out from all the devices and change your password to something stronger and use Email Protection as well as Email Scan feature of NPAV to stay protected.
• Unable to access the Task Manager, Command Prompt or Control Panel: If you are trying to open your control panel, task manager or command prompt but it does not open then there is some major technical issue in your system because of which it is not functioning correctly. If this is the case, then you need to first run through a scanner of your NPAV Antivirus and cross-check whether the control panel is responsive in safe mode. Sometimes this happens even because your PC is vulnerable and exposed to cyber attacks. Once, you run through a scanner with your NPAV product, use extra protection like Application Control, Online Protection of your NPAV antivirus software to keep away the virus drop or virus run and safeguard your valuable data.
• Everything seems to work properly on your systems: Some types of malware & viruses are best at hiding all the activity, leaving no visible traces. Even if you don't see anything, it is possible that a boot on your system may be quietly awaiting instruction from its command and control system. A remote access trojan or spyware may be harvesting your personal information. To overcome these problems you need to keep your anti-virus up-to-date and schedule scan after every particular time period and Use RootKit Scan feature for removing boot time virus.
• Unknown shortcut files are created: A shortcut file virus is a kind of worm or trojan that hides all your documents, files & folders and replace them with all shortcuts which look exactly the same. Once, you try opening these shortcuts, you end up running the virus and infect your PC leading to stolen personal data, system performance and all types of other virus infection side-effects.
• Programs open and close automatically: This behavior in your system shows the presence of Malware which opens and closes the program automatically. In this case, you need to first check whether the file is compatible to run with your PC and then decide whether it is a virus or not. If yes, then you need to completely reinstall the operating system and then install antivirus software and full scan your system so that this won't happen again.
• Your antivirus solutions stop working: Malware always tries to disable your antivirus software in order to protect itself and spread rapidly. You may have tried to restart your system or close-open the security solutions all these efforts were useless then it is considered as malware infected scenario. This is the case as some antivirus solutions are unable to block or remove the advanced malware like ransomware. That is why it is always advisable to scan your PC regularly with particular layer/shield security.

Malware and Viruses are regularly updating themselves and have become more advanced now. You can get them from any incautious online activity, downloading freeware, spam mail links, visiting suspicious web pages or updating your software programs from unverified links. So always make sure your networks are secure & safe, and take proper preventive measures to stay protected against malware attacks. Use NPAV Total Security to Stay Protected from all kinds of Malware.