If you have a virus…
Couple of sure signs that you may have viruses…your computer is slower than usual, pop up windows saying you have viruses, windows and other programs cannot update, crashes…to name a few. Malware is also similar to viruses because it will cause your computer to act funny like being redirected to different websites when on the internet. These can also record your key strokes and capture you adding passwords to accounts.
Here are a few things you can do besides calling a tech. If you have an anti virus program, you can run a scan, although it may be too late for detection. People think if you have and anti virus program, they should not have viruses…not true…viruses can pass detection somehow.
If you don’t have any anti virus program, you can buy one (such as Norton, McAfee to name a few) and install but there are a few free ones online. The one I use is from Microsoft called “Security Essentials” and is found on the Microsoft Website. It works as well as any other because none are 100% guarantee. Another is called “MalwareBytes” or “AVG” but these are only free for a short time, so I use it and uninstall it after. If these don’t detect anything, it could be something else like hardware problem rather than software…so time to call a tech.
If it detects something it may quarantine or remove the virus/malware but sometimes it cannot, so, you can try running your computer in “Safe Mode” then running the scan. (Safe Mode can be done by pressing f8 key when computer boots up) Often you have to run numerous scans and reboots to eliminate the virus. If this fails or you are not sure how to do this…call a tech. If all fails, your computer will have to be reinstalled and if you did not do backups, you will lose everything saved on it.