A process could lie and say it’s “Google Chrome” or “chrome.exe,” but it may just be malware impersonating Google Chrome that’s located in a different folder on your system. However, don’t assume that your computer is virus-free just because a process looks legitimate. If information about malware appears when you search the process, that’s a sign you likely have malware. If you’re curious about whether a specific program is malicious, right-click it in the Task Manager and select “Search Online” to find more information. Windows includes quite a few background processes, your PC manufacturer added some, and applications you install often add them.īadly behaved malware will often use a large amount of CPU, memory, or disk resources and may stand out here.

Many of these processes have strange, confusing names. It’s normal to see quite a few processes here-click “More Details” if you see a smaller list.

, which you can open by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc or by right-clicking the Windows taskbar and selecting “Task Manager.” You might be wondering if your computer has a virus because you’ve seen a strange process in the How to Check if a Process Is a Virus or Not The only way to know for sure whether you have malware is to examine your system for it.ġ0 Quick Ways to Speed Up a Slow PC Running Windows 7, 8, or 10 Sometimes malware causes PC problems, and sometimes it’s well-behaved while sneakily accomplishing its goal in the background. There’s no one-size-fits-all piece of evidence to look for without actually scanning your PC for malware. Some applications pop up a Command Prompt window when they update, so strange windows flashing onto your screen and quickly disappearing may be a normal part of the legitimate software on your system. Strange applications on your system may also indicate malware-but, once again, there’s no guarantee malware is involved. Still, sudden poor PC performance may be one sign you have malware. In other words, modern-day malware is often created by criminals just to make money, and well-crafted malware won’t cause any noticeable PC problems at all. Modern malware is more likely to lurk silently and covertly in the background, trying to evade detection so it can capture your credit card numbers and other personal information. The viruses of a decade ago were often pranks that ran wild and used a lot of system resources. Likewise, just because your PC is running fine doesn’t mean it doesn’t have malware. However, that’s not always the case: There are many otherĬauses of problems that can slow down your PC Poor performance, application crashes, and computer freezes can sometimes be the sign of a virus or

How to check for viruses on macbook