Signs Of Viruses: Are You Infected?
Article written by Jorrine See for Republic Pink
Article Word Count: 436
The Internet is one of the most frequently used tools for communication today. Every minute, there are over millions of people who are connected to the Internet. With the benefits that the Internet gives, each of us wants to be a part of this information superhighway. However with this superhighway, there are always a group of people who for some known or unknown, commercial or non-commercial reasons, will harm the computer that you are using now.
Often a time, you might not realize that you've introduced a virus until you notice something isn't quite right. Here are a few primary indicators that your computer might be infected:
- One of the most obvious signs of a computer virus infection is when you see unusual error messages popping out of your window. It might be a simple “Panda attack…!” or even a mocking “Your computer is conquered…” pop-up messages that the virus creator has left for his victim.
- Another obvious sign of a computer virus infection will be when you can’t access your Disks or disk drives. In addition to that, your system files appear as unknown files or they simply vanish from your computer.
- Your computer becomes a crawl. Everything you do and even have not runs much slower than normal.
- Your computer decides to ‘hang’ itself. This means it simply stops responding or locks up often.
- You boot up your computer smoothly and reach the windows. But even before you reaches for your mouse or even to login with your password, your computer crashes and restarts every few minutes.
- Similar to the above signs, your computer restarts on its own and then fails to run normally.
- Some or all your applications in your computer don't work correctly.
- Your printer is brand new or has always been an ardent supporter of yours. But somehow you just can't print whatever you are seeing on your monitor correctly.
- You see distorted menus and dialog boxes.
These are common signs of infection—but they might also indicate hardware or software problems that have nothing to do with a virus. Always check that your computer is protected with firewall, anti-virus software and applications. You can also download free anti-virus software such as AVG from Grisoft.com. Most importantly, remember to update your software with the latest virus definitions file and scan your computer regularly. If you find manual update to be troublesome, most of the software available in the market already has the option to download the virus definitions file automatically. Just remember to have that option turned on for your safer protection.
Jorrine See is a freelance writer based in Singapore, SG.
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