Most Common 10 Symptoms of Computer Viruses

Last Updated on 2 years by Touhid

Computer virus is a type of malware that harm to your computer system such as deleting files, encrypt files, files turned into shortcuts, formatting hard drive and replicate themselves or flood a network traffic. In this article, we will focus on what are the 10 symptoms of computer viruses.

10 Symptoms of Computer Viruses

The main purpose of creating a computer virus is to infect vulnerable systems, access admin control and steal sensitive information. There are several symptoms or signs of computer viruses. Here is a list of 10 symptoms of computer viruses, which will ensure that your computer may have a computer virus.

1. Your Computer is Slowing Down
2. Unexpected Pop-up Windows Appearing
3. Unwanted Programs Start Automatically
4. Missing Files and Programs
5. System Crashing
6. Out of Storage Space
7. Computer Malfunction
8. Blocked From Antivirus Sites
9. Advertisements on Web Browser
10. Files Turned into Shortcuts

Now, we will discuss above 10 symptoms of computer viruses.

1. Your Computer is Slowing Down

It is one of the most common symptoms which will slow down your computer. If your computer is taking longer time than normal to start and internet speed begin to slow down, then your computer has been affected by a  computer virus.

Tips

If your computer’s performance is sluggish, then first check the RAM or hard disk space. If there has not enough size or space then it is sure that your computer infected by a virus or malware.

2. Unexpected Pop-up Windows Appearing

Unexpected pop-up windows is one another symptoms of computer viruses. The appearing of unexpected pop-up windows on your computer is another irritating symptom of computer virus, which indicative a malware attack on your computer .

The computer viruses, malware and spyware can infect your hard disk and result in pop-up ads and slow your computer’s performance.

Tips

It is suggested that never click on a suspicious pop-up windows even if it says “a virus has detected”.

3. Unwanted Programs Start Automatically

When you will start your computer, you may become aware of the some unwanted warning signs which mean your computer has infected by virus. The symptoms may be windows shutting down suddenly without any reason and programs are opening or closing automatically.

4. Missing Files and Programs

If you notice that programs on your computer do not work properly, which means some of your files are missing. Some virus causes problems by deleting files or may encrypt your files so you aren’t able to open them. The files can be system files or files that you created, such as images or documents.

If your computer missing system files and you are trying to use certain applications such as browser or document editor then those applications will refuse to run properly.

In that case, shows pop up a warning for you that “critical file is missing”.

5. System Crashing

When your computer crashes suddenly, you may notice it does not seem to run normally and you should check it. If your computer self-restart frequently, every few minutes then this symptom may indicate that your system is infected by a computer virus.

Tips

If your computer is crashed, best solution is call your IT support center.

6. Out of Storage Space

This is another symptom of computer viruses that can increase or decrease the hard drive storage and make your computer unusable. If your computer keep saying your drive is in low storage space, you may surprise is that caused by computer virus.

Sometimes you will get the ‘low disk space’ warning  message and you didn’t download any large documents even you have enough storage space.

Tips

To recover disk space, you have to remove malicious program from your computer, install anti-virus software, and update your software.

7. Computer Malfunction

Computer viruses can do all kind of unexpected activities such as corrupt or damage data, destroy files, format hard drives or make disks unreadable. There are different types of computer viruses and they will affect your computer slightly in different ways.

Computer malfunction, which is another sign of computer viruses. The following activities or malfunction will ensure that your computer has compromised by virus:

• Computer starts to open files on its own.
• System sending emails without your knowledge.
• Internet sessions open scattered on their own.

8. Blocked From Antivirus Sites

If your computer has been infected by computer viruses then your computer may be prevented from accessing the antivirus websites. The malicious viruses can modify internet browser settings by adding a Proxy Server and you will be unable to visit any websites.

Other types of malicious viruses change the computer’s DNS settings or add various entries to your operating system’s host file. By changing these settings, computer viruses can cause redirect issues or block the Internet connection.

9. Advertisements on Web Browser

If your web browser is being redirected to another unwanted websites, or advertisements are popping up when you browse the internet, then your computer may be infected with malicious program called adware.

Adware is a software program that is designed to display advertisements up on your computer screen within a web browser which redirect you to an advertising websites and collect your sensitive data.

Tips

If you want to protect from adware, so here is the best helpful tips for you:

• Avoid to click on advertisements.
• Keep updated operating system and all others software.
• Use antivirus software and Firewall.
• Adjust Your Browser Settings.

10. Files Turned into Shortcuts

A shortcut virus is a type of malware that hides all of your files, folders, and then replaces all the files and folder with shortcuts that look exactly the same. When you connect a USB drive to a malware infected computer and transfer any file from computer to USB drive then it automatically infect USB drives and appears as Shortcut.

This malware initially released online and spreading from one computer to another and if you try to open any file then you will get error message.

How Computer Virus Spread

We have discussed 10 symptoms of computer viruses which may spread in different ways. If you know the symptoms and how they spread then you can easily protect your computer from viruses. However, the computer virus can be spread different ways such as:

• Opening an email attachment.
• Clicking on an malicious executable file.
• Visiting an infected website.
• Copying data from infected computer.
• Infected removable storage devices, such USB drives.

Learn more about how computer virus spread?

Learn more about Prevention of Computer Virus Attack.

Finally, computer virus infect a vulnerable systems, access admin control and steal sensitive information of your organization. You should know the symptoms of computer virus in order to protect from virus. We have mentioned most common 10 symptoms of computer viruses. Hope the article will be helpful for you!