How Does A PC Get Viruses?
There are various ways that your computer gets viruses. One of the most common gateways for malware entering your system is downloading and installing infected software or files from unknown or unofficial resources. Visiting scam websites, pirated media, free games and connecting to the infected external drives infects your device with the malware. Here are some common mistakes that you make that provide safe passage for malicious programs to get on your PC:
How Does Virus Impact Your System?
Viruses disrupt the normal functioning of your computer, interrupt the operating system, steal your data and personal details like passwords, userID, and track down all your online activities. Your financial security becomes vulnerable, and sometimes, your reputation is at stake due to sensitive information on your device. Here are possible impacts that your system goes through due to malware infection:
- Sluggish performance, unresponsive application and low productivity are some of the most critical impacts when your system is infected with bad programs. Malware takes up lots of system resources such as CPU, memory and space that slow down normal operations.
- Malicious codes corrupt your data, files and operating system. In the worst-case scenario, it deletes all the important documents, photos, videos and other personal details. You cannot recover it even from the recycle bin.
- Trojan horses connect cybercriminals to your system network to provide unauthorized access to your PC from the backdoor. Using this channel, they steal your important data, monitor your online activities, and use this information to do their illegal activities.
- Sophisticated viruses breach your security shield and steal important details like login credentials, credit card numbers, social security numbers, bank account information, etc. Bad players use this data to commit identity theft or financial fraud.
- Adware spoils your browsing experience by bombarding you with unwanted pop-up ads and redirecting links to unknown websites that do not provide quality information regarding your work, habits or queries, wasting your time unnecessarily.
- Cyber black hats use malicious codes to tamper your web browser to manipulate its settings. Using this, they change your homepage search engine and display unwanted toolbars to compromise your browsing details like history.
- Ransomware encrypts files and data on a computer to demand ransom from the victim. It encrypts all the files, documents and programs, preventing it from accessing. Due to this, you are locked out of our system and lose your precious data.
- Malware, viruses and worms render your system unusable. You experience frequent crashes, delayed freezes and stuck normal operation during online browsing or when you are doing your work on the PC.
- Infected computers cannot connect to networks and communication channels. You cannot access the internet or connect to other devices on your peer-to-peer network. Sharing information and communicating with other people becomes impossible for you.
Effective Ways To Check If Your System Has Virus
When viruses infect your system, they start behaving in a certain way. It would be best if you observed these signs to confirm the presence of malware in your system. Here are some simple shortcuts that help you check viruses on your PC.
Observe System Performance
Low performance, unnecessary memory usage, and unusual crashes/freezes confirm that there is a virus in your PC. You can use a task manager or activity monitor to check what it is that is taking too much of your system resources.
Look for Suspicious Behavior
Pay attention to your computer’s unusual or suspicious behavior, such as unexpected pop-up windows or ads, random sounds, sudden changes to your browser’s homepage or search engine, new and unrecognized programs or browser extensions, etc.
Unexplained Disk Activity
If you see that your hard drive is on or continuously active even when you are not using your computer, then something malicious inside is keeping your drive active for committing data theft.
Unauthorized Access
Notice unfamiliar or unauthorized access to your accounts, password changes, or unusual account activity. It may be a sign of malware presence in your PC that is sitting there to commit data stealing from your device.
Missing Files or Data
Malware is capable of deleting, encrypting, or moving your files to their secret databases. When you look for your data on your computer and do not find it, then surely it is an act of a malicious program that has stolen or deleted your data.
Strange Network Behavior
If you are getting unusual firewall alerts, unauthorized network traffic outbound connections and unfamiliar IP addresses on your network, you must know this is the doing of something malicious. You find that you are redirecting to strange and unknown web portals without your doing anything.
Spam Emails
When you find people reporting you that they are receiving spam emails from your email address, it is a strong sign that the malware has compromised your email ID. Also, you receive warning messages that say your files are encrypted and you need to pay a ransom to decrypt your data.
Failing To Download Updates
Your system fails to download updates for your apps and software if it is infected with malicious programs. It does so to keep unpatched security vulnerabilities from continuing to exploit these loose ends to steal information and modify the program.
How To Stop Viruses From Entering Your Computer
If you are tired of constant cyber attacks, then you need to get 360 Antivirus Pro to protect your computer from malware, viruses, spyware, and ransomware. It will stop all malicious programs from entering your PC, modifying data information, and preventing the operating system from working properly. Its top-tech defense system blocks worms, trojan horses, ransomware and spyware efficiently and neutralizes potential cyber-attacks at the very inception. Here is how you can use this antimalware software to enhance your PC security:
Deep scanning
You can download 360 Antivirus Pro and install it on your device. After that, you can run a deep system scan to track all threats and bad actors. If there is any worm in your system, it will detect it easily, quarantine the file and eliminate it automatically. Using this antimalware solution, you can easily check if your PC has any virus in it or not.
Traffic Monitoring
360 Antivirus Pro helps you monitor network traffic and analyze suspicious links, website links, and phishing emails from unknown resources as soon as you get them. It alerts you in advance if you encounter any suspicious behavior in your network.
Online Protection
An advanced antivirus solution would be highly effective in protecting your privacy, personal details, files, documents and sensitive information over your computer. It uses an authentication process to provide access to your data to ensure no one accesses your files or accounts without your explicit consent. You get comprehensive email and web browsing protection that is essential to block any cybersecurity attacks.
Password protection
You can manage your important passwords using a robust antivirus solution. It will protect your login passwords, user IDs, and financial details with its unbreachable security procedures. Cyber black hats cannot break the impregnable walls of multilayered defense mechanisms of security software that protect your precious data. It diverts every move efficiently and provides you with advanced security alerts about cybercriminals’ moves to enter your system.
Streamline Updates
Antivirus solution helps you streamline and update your software, applications, and other programs running on your devices. Timely updates help you patch the open-ended security loose ends. Also, it keeps you protected from fake updates and downloading from malware-ridden websites and open-source platforms.
