Topic: How Can I Tell If My Computer Has A Virus?

Ok, I downloaded a file expander thing off the Internet because my safety thing said it was green. However, when I downloaded it, these wierd icons were on my computer that looked shady and said stuff like "free games" and "free dolphin screensaver". I deleted this and the file expander off my computer. I downloaded the Microsoft Safety Search off their website and did a quick search. It said everything was ok, but I was wondering if there was a virus, had it spread enough yet to be detected? Can someone please help?

i do not pretend to be an expert, but it sounds as if you encounted ad ware etc instead of a virus. downloads such as this often contain imbedded links that are put on your comp. clicking on them, unfortunately, can cause other problems because soon your system is swimming in the crap of it all.

you were smart to delete then run a check. i swear by AVG malware progam. they have a free version that checks for viruses, malware etc and lets you eliminate them; you can schedule it to run regular scans and it's easy to use. just google 'AVG' and you will find it. good luck.

I use Kapersky, but I heard McAfee is pretty good.

they are all good, but AVG is the only one i trust that is truly free. there may be others, i am just happy and haven't looked further.

McAfee and Norton are crap. You can get AVG for free and it is better than McAfee and Norton IMO. What you should do if you think you have a virus is Download and run AVG Free as well as download and run Malwarebytes which is an anti Malware prgram and also free like AVG.

You can also try a system restore to before you downloaded what you downloaded.

Malwarebytes is good times :3

I guess I was alarmed because I did a Googe search for signs and some websit said to check programs running. It said if you have any strange programs you probably have a virus. I'm not a computer expert, but some stuff I didn't know about I clicked delete on and my computer said I could not delete the program and it said access was denied.

Anyways, so do you think it was just adware and my computer is fine, or should I get the AVG you guys are talking about and run a test? I already did the Microsoft Safety Search and it said it was fine, but it was a quick search, and those just check places that are most likely to be infected.

why are you asking us, Link245? Just download AVG or whatever you've decided to go with and scan your computer — you should have these things anyway, tbh. No sense not having them and then scrambling to download 'em real quick afterthefact, lol :3

@Link245: Yep I agree what TBD says you should have them on you computer already its doesnt hurt to have them but it could hurt not too. Also as I said AVG is nice cause it gives you the same level of protection that Norton and McAfee does without the price. Just downloaded the two and run them.

AVG: http://free.avg.com/us-en/free-antivirus-download

Malware Bytes: http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free

McAffee and Norton both offer free trials and security scans. Is AVG free the full version, or just a trial?

Its a full version thats free. The have other versions for sale as well but really all a person really needs is the free version for a home PC.

To clear some things up, I already had a bunch of security stuff on my computer BEFORE I downloaded that crap. I was just afraid a virus got installed.

Well than why are you asking us what stuff to use. Just run what security stuff you have and that should clear it up. Either that or as I said do a restore before you downloaded whatever it was that you downloaded.

relax, Tasuki, he's never had this kind of thing happen before.

@Link245: i think i get what you're asking now... i know with Microsoft Security Essentials, there's a popup that shows up letting me know if a virus is present or is attempting to activate itself or whatnot. When I run Malwarebytes, it tells me what shows up as infected after the scan has been run — idk about when it's actively running in the background because my netbook's so limited i can only realistically run one virus-scanner in the background at once, lol. I'd assume there would be a popup letting you know that a virus-infected file has been downloaded or has made itself known on your system if that were the case. :3

Best advice if you think you may have a virus just run some AV program and a Malware program you cant go wrong running it even if there is nothing there its better to be safe than sorry.

Right now I'm running a full scan (which scans every file on my computer) with the Microsoft Safety Scanner. If everything is ok, I'll run a scan with my anti-virus software. If everything's still ok, I'll relax.

Yep thats the way to go, just to let you know if you dont have a malware program like Malware Bytes its a good idea to install one since most antiviruses dont protect you from malware. So even an antivirus will not catch malware thats been installed on your computer.

Hope everything turns out ok.

My computer is 100% virus free. I guess it was just adware.

On my old computer I uninstalled Norton in hopes of being able to run Portal 2 without it and got Microsoft Security Essentials to serve in its place, and almost instantly got a virus that in the end cause me to lose all my music and programs (including all of my non-Steam games). I have Kapersky on my new computer and haven't had any problems whatsoever.

I would strongly advise against randomly deleting files because you're not sure of their purpose. Check out the names of the things in your process monitor (task manager) and then Google them. Oftentimes, you'll get hits from sites like liutilities.com, processlibrary.com, and even the Microsoft Support Knowledgebase that will tell you the exact purpose of a file.

It takes a lot of the guess-work out of it.