Beware the signs
of a potentially malware-infested PC: slower-than-usual performance, the recent
occurrence of lots of pop-ups, and other weird issues. It’s possible your
system has been infected by a virus, spyware, or other nefarious entity—even if
you have an antivirus program installed. Yes, out-of-the-ordinary behavior is
sometimes the result of hardware issues, but it’s best to first rule out malware
if your PC is acting up. Here’s a step-by-step guide for taking action.
Step 1: Enter Safe Mode
Before you do
anything, you need to disconnect your PC from the internet, and don’t use it
until you’re ready to clean your PC. This can help prevent the malware from
spreading and/or leaking your private data.
If you think
your PC may have a malware infection, boot your PC into Microsoft’s Safe Mode.
In this mode, only the minimum required programs and services are loaded. If
any malware is set to load automatically when Windows starts, entering in this
mode may prevent it from doing so. This is important because it can make
removing the nefarious files easier since they’re not actually running or
active.
You may find
that your PC runs noticeably faster in Safe Mode. This could be a sign that
your system has a malware infection, or it could mean that you have a lot of
legitimate programs that normally start up alongside Windows. If your PC is
outfitted with a solid-state drive it’s probably fast either way.
Step 2: Delete temporary files
Now that you’re
in Safe Mode, you’ll want to run a virus scan. But before you do that, delete
your temporary files. Doing this may speed up the virus scanning, free up disk
space, and even get rid of some malware. To use the Disk Cleanup utility
included with Windows 10 just type Disk Cleanup in the search bar or after
pressing the Start button and select the tool that appears named Disk Cleanup.
Step 3: Download malware scanners
Now you’re ready
to have a malware scanner do its work—and fortunately, running a scanner is
enough to remove most standard infections. If you already had an antivirus
program active on your computer, you should use a different scanner for this
malware check, since your current antivirus software may not have detected the
malware. Remember, no antivirus program can detect 100 percent of the millions
of malware types and variants.
There are two
types of antivirus programs. You’re probably more familiar with real-time
antivirus programs, which run in the background and constantly watch for
malware. (Another option is an on-demand scanner, which searches for malware
infections when you open the program manually and run a scan. You should have
only one real-time antivirus program installed at a time, but you can have many
on-demand scanners installed to run scans with multiple programs, thereby
ensuring that if one program misses something a different one might find it.
Step 4: Fix your web browser
Malware
infections can damage Windows system files and other settings. One common
malware trait is to modify your web browser’s homepage to reinfect the PC,
display advertisements, prevent browsing, and generally annoy you.
Before launching
your web browser, check your homepage and connection settings. For Internet
Explorer right-click the Windows 10 Start button and select Control Panel, then
Internet Options. Find the Home Page settings in the General tab, and verify
that it’s not some site you know nothing about. For Chrome, Firefox, or Edge,
simply go to the setttings window of your browser to check your homepage
setting.
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