Since most malicious programs such as viruses, spyware and malware are designed to hide themselves, detecting their existence is not always easy.

Recently a person who came into our computer repair facility in Clifton Park asked how they could tell they were infected with a virus, so we put this list together.

Here are a few surefire signs that you have been infected:

1 – You start getting swamped with pop-up ads that seem to come from nowhere and constantly interrupt your use of the computer.
2 – Your computer is unstable, sluggish, locks up, or crashes frequently.
3 – Your web browser’s home page changes on its own and you cannot modify the settings. You may also see toolbars on your web browser that you did not set up.
4 – You get a second or third web browser popping up behind your main browser that you didn’t open or request.
5 – Mysterious files suddenly start appearing.
6 – Your CD drawer starts opening and closing by itself.
7 – You get constant runtime errors in Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express.
8 – You find emails in your “Sent Items” folder that you didn’t send.
9 – Some of your files are moved or deleted or the icons on your desktop or toolbars are blank or missing.
10 – You suddenly see your self appear in a window from your webcam.

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Tags: Clients, Clifton Park computer repair, computer crashes, Computer virus, malware, Microsoft, Microsoft Outlook, spyware, Toolbar, Virus, Web browser, Webcam, WWW

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at 10:33 am and is filed under Security, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.