- Why You Should Worry About Keeping Your Computer Safe
- Getting to Everything Security Related in Vista
- What Spyware and Malware Are and How Your Computer Gets Them
- Symptoms of Malware on Your Computer
- Getting Rid of and Keeping Malware Off Your Computer
- Windows Defender
- What to Do If You Suspect Malware But Can't Get a Pop-Up to Close
- What Is a Virus and How Is It Different from Spyware?
- Protecting Your Computer from Viruses
- Determining If You Have a Virus
- The Importance of Automatic Updates
- Turning On Automatic Updating
- What Is Windows Firewall?
- Why You Should Back Up Your Computer
- Backing Up the Files on Your Computer
- Backing Up Your Entire Computer
- Where to Store Backups
- Restoring Your Computer from a Backup
- Automatically Backing Up Your Computer
- What Is Service Pack 1 (a.k.a. SP1)?
- How Do I Get SP1?
- How Do I Install SP1?
Symptoms of Malware on Your Computer
©ISTOCKPHOTO/LJUPCO SMOKOVSKI
Let’s talk about malware first. We’ll get into viruses in a few pages. Luckily, it’s usually pretty easy to tell if you have any malware on your computer. Here are some symptoms:
- You type in a webpage to visit and another one opens instead.
- Your default homepage is different than the one you specified.
- You see pop-up ads sporadically on your computer, even if you’re not surfing the Web.
- When you look at Internet Explorer (or other browsers), you see new toolbars and links that you didn’t add.
- In general, your computer seems to run slowly. Plus, you’ll also hear your computer processing and churning away even when you’re not doing anything.
If you’ve experienced any of these, chances are you may have some type of malware. No need to freak out though, most malware isn’t dangerous to your computer. It’s more annoying than anything, but read on and you’ll find out how to get rid of it.