Top 10 Symptoms to Know if Your Computer is Infected with a Virus

It is a very common problem that computers are getting infected with unknown viruses but in most cases, people feel great difficulty to know if the computer is really infected with a virus. So, if your computer is freezing a lot or creating back-to-back problems, you should make sure that your computer is not infected with a virus because virus may be the cause of slowing down the PC’s performance, freezing issues or not responding errors.

So, if you’re having a problem finding if your computer is infected with a virus, then this article will definitely help you because here I compiled 10 very helpful symptoms to know if your computer is really infected with a virus software.

Symptoms to Know if Your PC is Infected with Virus

1. Freezing or not responding problem

If your computer freezes so often or back to back gives not responding errors, it can be a great symptom of a virus attack. You should take it seriously and install antivirus in your computer to scan your whole PC to detect and remove virus.

Other than this, there may be several reasons for freezing a computer. Wanna know? Click Here to learn all the possible reasons why your PC freezes so often.

2. Unwanted programs or files

Are you noticing some unwanted popups or programs on your computer, especially when computer starts? Or are you noticed that your hard disk size is suddenly increased due to numerous unwanted files or just by making the lots of copies of your files? It means a virus is injected in your PC, you should instantly scan your PC.

3. Hardware problems

Many times, if your computer is infected with a virus, it may damage your hardware. You would be thinking that how you will know that your hardware is damaged. For example, your printer started acting up on its own, without you requesting any action by means of keyboard or mouse, you are likely having a virus in your computer system. So, this can be a great symptom for a virus infected PC.

4. Slow booting process

This is another important symptom for a computer virus. If your computer is taking too long time to boot the operating system than usual, it may be due to a virus infection in your computer.

5. Hard drive corrupted

Hard drive corruption means the data in your hard drive is not readable, unable to open hard drive or may be hard drive is inaccessible. However, most probably the improper shutdown of the PC may also be the cause of hard drive corruption but still virus infection is one of the main reasons for hard drive corruption. So, you should be careful of it.

6. Computer crashing spontaneously

If your computer starts crashing automatically, it may be a symptom of a virus attack. In this kind of problem sometimes even after restarting PC, it doesn’t seem to run normally or PC restarts automatically every few minutes. This symptom is alone sufficient to let you know that your computer is infected with a virus.

7. Disks or disk drives are not accessible

It may be a very common task for you to connect a USB device with your computer for transferring data between two devices or for any other reason. But, if you sometimes notice that the USB drive is inaccessible in your Windows computer, and after making many efforts you are unable to see the drive in your PC, it may be a symptom of virus infection.

8. Files are missing in your hard drive

It also may be due to virus infection. Many times when a computer is infected with a virus, the files stored in hard drives start missing or deleted. So, if you find that any of your files is deleted or missing from your computer, it may be due to a virus attack.

9. Slow performance

The slow performance of the PC may be a symptom of having a virus. If your computer is too slow even after using lots of tips to speed up the computer, it means your computer is definitely infected with a virus.

Here are some more reasons why your computer becomes too slow – Check Out!

10. Having problems with output devices like printer

If your output devices are not working properly even after connecting with your PC correctly, it means your PC is dealing with a virus. For example, if your printer is not accepting print commands or not printing your documents at all, even if it is turned on and online (connected to your network), it means your computer may be infected with a virus and this virus can not only damage your drive but also your network.

Now, what should I do?

Don’t worry friend, I know this question might arise in your mind what should I do when my PC is infected with a virus? So, let me give some easy solutions to remove viruses from your PC:

• First of all, install a trusted and reputed antivirus program on your computer.
• Scan the whole computer with the help of an antivirus program and set it to run in the background.
• Initially, I will suggest you try the antivirus for its trial period and then if it works great and removes viruses from your PC, you should buy it.
• Don’t forget to renew your antivirus software on time – if it isn’t renewed, it’s not active.

In one of my previous articles, I’ve listed some of the best and most reputed antivirus programs for desktop computers, but all of those are free. But, if your computer is effectively infected with a virus program, you should go for a premium version of antivirus.