5 Ways To Check Your PC for Malware. Malware can slow down your PC, steal data, or spy on your business. It often does this without any warning signs, so you need to know what to check.

Whether you’re running a small business or just managing your own work laptop, it’s crucial that you know how to spot a malware infection. This may sound like a daunting task, but the good news is that you don’t have to be an IT expert to check your machine. As long as you know where to look, you should be able to keep your PC safe. Here are Ophtek’s five best ways to check your PC for malware:

1. Watch For Unusual Performance Changes: One of the earliest signs of a malware infection is when your PC starts running slower than usual, freezing, or constantly crashing. Malware tends to run hidden in the background, and this can take up a significant portion of your CPU and memory. The result is less power for everything else. If your laptop battery is draining faster than normal or your fans are constantly running, it’s worth taking a closer look.
2. Run a Full Scan With Your Antivirus Software: This may sound obvious, but many PC users fail to run regular and full antivirus scans. Instead, they rely on real time protection e.g. scanning any new downloads. While this is effective at protecting your PC, it only scratches the surface. You need to dig deeper to catch any malware which has evaded initial detection and established itself on your PC. Most antivirus programs – such as Windows Defender, allow you to schedule these deep scans to run overnight.
3. Check Task Manager For Unusual Activity: It’s important to regularly check Task Manager to see exactly what’s running on your PC, but many people are unaware of this. If you press Ctrl+Shift+Esc, you can see all the programs and processes currently running on your PC. If there’s anything that you don’t recognize, or is using a large amount of power, you should check the name of this process online. Most of the time, it’ll be a harmless system tool, but it could also be malware.
4. Monitor Your Browser For Unusual Changes: Malware likes to tamper with browsers, so this should be one of the first places you check. If your homepage has suddenly changed to a site you don’t recognize, this should ring alarm bells. Likewise, pop-ups you don’t recognize or browser extensions you never installed, should be treated with caution. Always remove anything unfamiliar and ask an IT professional to take a closer look.
5. Look At Your Network Activity: If your data usage is higher than normal, or your network is regularly connecting to unrecognized servers, it’s worth investigating. Malware often connects to remote servers or can enlist your PCs into botnets. To check the status of your network activity, you can do this through your router’s admin panel or via tools like Windows’ Resource Monitor.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

You May Also Like:

The DKnife Malware You’ve Never Heard Of Five Sure-fire Ways to Know You’ve Been Hacked 6 Reasons Why You Should Invest in Cyber Security What is the Difference Between Malware, Ransomware and a Virus?