Many types of malware can hide without producing any signs or symptoms of a infestion, different types of malware can perform different jobs, whether they make themselves apparanet or run on your PC, smartphone or tablet, while hiding in the background. Malware that you might not realize on your PC could be capturing data as you log in oyour nline accounts, finding valuable personal data stored on your device, or even turning on your webcam without your permission. This is why it's so important to protect your devices with antivirus software to prevent and helps remove malicious software. Here are some signs that you have malware on your system:
- Your computer slows down. One of malware’s main effects is to reduce the speed of your operating system, whether you’re navigating the Internet or just using your local applications.
- Your data usage has spaked
- Your smartphone batery drains quickly, or shows -calls/messages you didn't send.
- Your system repeatedly crashes, freezes, or displays a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), which can occur on Windows systems after encountering a fatal error.
- You notice a mysterious loss of disk space, probably due to a bloated malware squatter which hides in your hard drive.
- There’s a weird increase in your system’s Internet activity.
- Usage of your system resources is abnormally high and your computer’s fan starts whirling away at full speed—signs of malware activity taking up system resources in the background.
- Your browser’s homepage changes without your permission. Similarly, links you click send you to an unwanted web destination. This usually means you clicked on that “congratulations” pop-up, which downloaded some unwanted software. Likewise, your browser might slow to a crawl.
- New toolbars, extensions, or plugins unexpectedly populate your browser.
- Your antivirus product stops working and you cannot update it, leaving you unprotected against the sneaky malware that disabled it.
- Then there’s the painfully obvious, intentionally non-stealthy malware attack. This famously happens with ransomware, which announces itself, tells you it has your data, and demands a ransom to return your files.
- Even if everything seems to be working just fine on your system, don’t get complacent, because no news isn’t necessarily good news. Powerful malware can hide deep in your computer, going about its dirty business without raising any red flags as it snags your passwords, steals sensitive files, or uses your PC to spread to other computers.
- Your device slows down or gets glitchy
- Friends tells you that got suspicious email from you, that you definitely didn't send
- Pop-up windows appear while you're surfing
Malware is a malicious software programs designed to perform a variety of tasks, including stealing, encrypting or deleting sensitive data, hijacking/monitoring users’ activity without permission. There are various types of malware, including spyware, ransomware, viruses, worms, Trojan horses, adware, or any type of malicious code that infiltrates a computer.
Every software is considered malware based on the intent of the creator rather than its actual features. Malware creation is on the rise due to money that can be made through organized Internet crime. Originally malware was created for experiments and pranks, but eventually it was used for vandalism and destruction of targeted machines. Today, much of malware is created to make a profit from forced advertising (adware), stealing sensitive information (spyware), spreading email spam or child pornography (zombie computers), or extorting money (ransomware).
Various factors can make computers more vulnerable to malware attacks, including defects in the operating system (OS) design, all of the computers on a network running the same OS, giving users too many permissions, or just because a computer runs on a particular operating system, such as Windows, for example.
The best protection from malware whether ransomware, bots, browser hijackers, or other malicious software continues to be the usual, preventive advice: be careful about what email attachments you open, be cautious when surfing by staying away from suspicious websites, and install and maintain an updated, quality antivirus program.