Detecting virus on computer

Contact Us. Apps , Microsoft , Tech Tips , Technology. June 17, Share on facebook. Share on twitter. Share on linkedin. What is Virus : One of the biggest fears among the new computer users is being infected by a computer virus programs which are primarily designed to steal or destroy personal data. Trojans — These type of infections act just as their name predicts. These often include backdoors which make for a fatal combination.

Rootkits — In my view, these are the worst infections out there. Not only does this malware infect your personal computer, but it fights back! If the infection gets stopped, a rootkit can restart itself, copy itself or even move.

These are masters in the art of concealment, and often make removal next to impossible. There are mainly 3 methods to detect the virus in a computer. They are as follows. Examine how long it takes your computer to boot up: If you start noticing that your computer takes significantly longer time than usual to start, a virus may be slowing down the startup process. Detect virus in your Windows lappy or computer with this Method 2 Keeping Tabs on Your Program : Make a summary of program crashes: If your regular programs start crashing more frequently, a virus may have infected the operating system.

Programs that take a longer time to load, or that perform extra slow, are also indicative of this. Look for popups: If you are infected by the virus, you may start seeing messages appear on your screen, even if no other background programs are running. Removing a computer virus or spyware can be difficult without the help of malicious software removal tools.

Some computer viruses and other unwanted software reinstall themselves after the viruses and spyware are detected and removed. Fortunately, by updating the computer and by using malicious software removal tools, you can help permanently remove unwanted software. For more information about how to remove a computer virus and spyware, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: - Microsoft resources and guidance for removal of malware and viruses. Note A computer virus may prevent you from accessing the Microsoft Update website to install the latest updates.

We recommend that you set the Automatic Updates service to run automatically so that a computer is not missing any important updates. Microsoft offers a free online tool that scans and helps remove potential threats from your computer. To perform the scan, go to the Microsoft Safety Scanner website. Note the name of the rogue security software. For this example, we'll call it XP Security Agent When you are prompted, use the arrow keys to highlight Safe Mode with Networking , and then press Enter.

Click the Start button and check whether the rogue security software appears on the Start menu. If it's not listed there, click All Programs and scroll to find the rogue security software's name. Right-click the name of the rogue security software program, and then click Properties. In the Properties dialog box, check the path of the rogue security software program that is listed in Target.

Note The folder name frequently is a random number. In the Program Files window, click Program Files in the address bar.

Scroll until you find the rogue security software program folder. For example, XP Security Agent Go to the Microsoft Safety Scanner website. If you suspect that your computer is infected with rogue security software that was not detected by using Microsoft security solutions, you can submit samples by using the Microsoft Malware Protection Center submission form.

Microsoft Defender Offline is an anti-malware tool that helps remove difficult to eliminate viruses that start before Windows starts. Starting with Windows 10, Microsoft Defender Offline is built-in. Click Download the 32 bit version or Download the 64 bit version , depending on which operating system that you are running. If you're unsure of which operating system that you are running, see Is my PC running the bit or bit version of Windows.

When you are prompted, press a key to select an option to use to start your computer, such as F12, F5, or F8, depending on the kind of computer that you are using. Use the arrow key to scroll to the drive where you installed Microsoft Defender Offline file. Microsoft Defender Offline starts and immediately scans for malware.

Confirm that the Windows firewall is turned on. See Turn Microsoft Defender Firewall on or off for instructions on how to do that on modern versions of Windows. In the Search box, type firewall, and then click Windows Firewall. In the left pane, click Turn Windows Firewall on or off you may be prompted to enter your administrator password. Only download programs from sites that you trust. If you're not sure whether to trust a program that you want to download, enter the name of the program into your favorite search engine to see whether anyone else has reported that it contains spyware.

Read all security warnings, license agreements, and privacy statements that are associated with any software that you download. Never click "Agree" or "OK" to close a window that you suspect might be spyware. Be wary of popular "free" music and movie file-sharing programs, and make sure that you understand all the software packaged with those programs.

Use a standard user account instead of an administrator account. Manually send feedback at any time through the Feedback Hub app. To send feedback, type Feedback Hub in the search box on the taskbar, then select it from the list of results to open the app.

Read Diagnostics, feedback, and privacy in Windows 10 for questions about privacy and feedback settings. How malware can infect your PC. Security Windows More If scans are taking too long or appear to be progressing very slowly, consider the following solutions: Make sure you have enough disk space Microsoft Defender Antivirus requires disk space to remove and quarantine malware files.

See the following to help free up space: Free up drive space in Windows 10 Tips to free up drive space on your PC Windows 8. Run scans while your PC is idle by closing all other programs Scanning takes system resources like processor and memory. If Microsoft Defender Antivirus continually encounters errors during scans or during malware removal, try the following solutions: Please provide feedback to us, so we can deliver fixes as fast as possible.

Use Microsoft Defender Antivirus with cloud-based protection By default, the following advanced features are enabled. Update Microsoft Defender Antivirus before scanning By default, Microsoft Defender Antivirus updates definitions automatically at least once every day. Learn more about definition updates for Microsoft Defender Antivirus and other Microsoft antimalware If you continue to encounter suspicious files that are not detected by Microsoft Defender Antivirus, submit the files to Microsoft for analysis.

To resolve this, try scanning with Microsoft Defender Offline to catch hidden threats Scan with Windows Defender Offline If the same malware keeps infecting your PC, use Windows Defender Offline to look for and remove recurring malware. Reset, restore, or reinstall your PC Back up any files and settings you want to keep so that you can restore them later. Need more help? Expand your skills. Get new features first. A subscription to make the most of your time. Try 1 month free.

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