How To Discover PC Virus on Your Computer

The question is how do you know if you have been infected with a computer virus?  These days computer viruses are a dime a dozen, but all dangerous.  Sometimes, no matter what precautions you take, you may be infected.  There are a few signs to look out for which may indicate your computer security has been compromised.  If you see these signs, then you should take steps to diagnose whether or not there really is a virus there.

What You'll Need:

Anti-virus software

Step 1) If your computer suddenly seems to be running slower and you know that you haven't installed any large applications, it could be worth shutting everything down and trying to perform a simple operation such as opening an application.  If it is still slow, you may have a virus on your computer.

Step 2) When you are connected to the internet, have the network connection icon display in the systray (the far right if the taskbar where the clock lives).  Now close you browser, email and messaging applications.  You need to make sure they have properly closed, so check the systray for any internet related applications like MSN Messenger and outlook.  If there are any there, right click on them and select either quit or close from the context menu which appears.

Step 3) Now that you know you are connected to but not using the internet, you can monitor how much activity happens on your network connections icon in your systray.  If the icon doesn't make it clear (not all show active activity, some just show connectivity) right click on it and select open.  You will be shown a dialog box with information about the traffic on your network.  If there are packets being sent and received in any great number or frequency, you may be compromised.

Step 4) The only surefire way to know whether or not you have a virus on your computer is to run your anti-virus software.  Windows comes with rudimentary protection and there are excellent free applications out there such as AVG-Free and Spybot Search and Destroy.  If you don't have any anti-virus software, follow one of the links in the Resources section to download and install one.  Once you have opened your anti-virus software, there will be an option to perform a full scan or something similar depending on your software choice.  Click on that and wait.  The advantage to using anti-virus software to diagnose a problem is that you will be able to quarantine or delete it as well.

Tips

You should always have active, up to date anti-virus software and firewall on your computer to avoid being infected by viruses.

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