6 Signs that Your PC/laptop is Infected with Malware.

James 26, Jun, 2021

Information Technology

350,000 versions of malware are found every day. Although your business may have protection, does that protection cover your employees’ PCs or laptops?

As many companies continue to work remotely, you may connect a personal device to your network. If these devices are used for purposes other than work, there is a risk of infection with malware.

Before connecting to your network, your employees may not even realize that their devices have been infected. To help, here are 6 signs that your PC or laptop is infected with malware.

1. Pop-Up Ads

Malware causes pop-up ads and various kinds of messages to show on your device. This form of malware is known as spyware. It is designed to steal your sensitive data without your knowledge.

In the case of pop-up ads, the ads themselves are not the main issue. It’s removing them from your system that is difficult.

The pop-ups are very annoying and they usually come bundled with other concealed types of malware that can be more destructive to your device.

They can pretend to be legitimate programs and track your web browsing data or monitor your online activities to collect passwords and other personal information. Do not click on pop-up ads.

2. Antivirus disabled

Your real-time protection may be disabled. A full scan using an anti-malware program is essential.

If you notice that your antivirus software no longer works or the update option is disabled, you should immediately look for a way to fix it.

Some types of malware can disable your antivirus software. The malware is designed to leave you without any defense and unable to detect new malware.

If you have already tried restarting your computer and closing and opening security solutions, and all your troubleshooting efforts seem to be of no avail, your device is most likely infected with malware.

Without this protection, you can get exposed to all kind of attacks, and we strongly recommend enhancing your protection by adding multiple layers of protection.

3. New icons are added to your desktop

Adding malware to your unconfigured icons and toolbars is just the tip of the iceberg. If an unknown program is loaded when you turn on your computer or other connected device, turn it off.

This may be a malware infection that was previously installed with some other software. You may accidentally download these sneaky programs called PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs).

Puppies are malicious programs that can cause a lot of harm and expose you to data leakage. They can also cause the aforementioned ad pop-up windows and add toolbars to the browser.

4. Web browser acting out of control

Browser hijacking is a type of malicious software that makes your web browser start to become strange. If you notice unusual behavior in your web browser, or a new toolbar suddenly appearing, these are signs of malware.

This usually happens when you visit a website and click on a link or pop-up window that proves to be malicious. This will trigger the installation of unwanted software on your device.

Like most malicious programs, these effects are both annoying and dangerous for your device.

5. Your friends complain about spam

These accounts can be used to send spam to your contact list and spread malware to your friends’ computers.

Malware targeting Facebook and other social media sites spread by generating fake posts. These posts usually contain some kind of inflammatory statement. Anyone who falls in love with fakes and clicks on a link will become the next victim of malware.

If this happens, please take the following protective measures immediately:

Log out of all your social accounts. Make sure to log out of your online accounts on all connected devices, not just your PC or laptop.

Use strong and unique passwords for all your online accounts. Don’t use the same password for multiple accounts, and remember to change them regularly.

Start using multi-factor authentication (MFA). It will immediately improve your safety. MFA is the second layer of security and requires additional authentication steps during the login process.

6. PC running slowly

Do your files and applications take a long time to load? Does your computer take a long time to start and run slowly after it starts? If so, the malware may have penetrated into your operating system.

Malware consumes available system resources, leaving less and less room for other legitimate programs to run normally.

One of the main activities of malware is to slow down the operating system, whether you are browsing the web or accessing a local application.

A slower PC does not automatically mean that it has malware. Check your task manager to see if the application uses a lot of RAM.

How to protect your devices

To keep your computer away from malicious threats, make sure you apply these IT security measures:

Do not click on pop-up windows.
Do not answer unsolicited emails that look strange. Always verify the sender’s email address and never open attachments or click weird links.
Be very careful when you are trying to download free applications.
Use a next-gen threat prevention solution that identifies online dangers and blocks them before they get the chance to infect your PC.