How do I know if my computer is infected with a virus or other malware?
Symptoms of malware affecting currently installed ESET security software:
Your ESET security product is disabled for no reason and cannot be restarted
A threat is discovered or the red ESET Threat Detected window keeps appearing
You receive frequent alerts from your ESET firewall about an unknown program
You receive pop-up alerts from rogue antivirus programs claiming that you are infected with multiple viruses
Symptoms of computer malware that affect the Internet:
You may receive the error “Internet Explorer could not display the page” when attempting to access certain websites
Your web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome) freezes, hangs or is unresponsive
Your web browser’s default homepage is changed
Access to www.eset.com is blocked
You get redirected to web pages other than the one you intended to go to
You receive numerous web-browser popup messages
Strange or unexpected toolbars appear at the top of your web browser
Malware symptoms that affect system performance:
Your computer runs slower than usual
Your computer freezes, hangs or is unresponsive
There are new icons on your desktop that you do not recognize
Your computer restarts by itself (but not a restart caused by Windows Updates)
You see unusual error messages (e.g., messages saying there are missing or corrupt files folders)
You are unable to access the Control Panel, Task Manager, Registry Editor or Command Prompt.
System Administrators, visit the following ESET Knowledgebase article for instructions to enable these system tools disabled by malware: An infiltration has blocked access to the Control Panel, Task Manager, Registry Editor, and Command Prompt.
Symptoms of malware in email:
You receive messages in your mailbox without a sender address or subject
People receive spam email from your email address with a third-party email program installed (e.g., Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express/Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird)
For more information about spam, visit the following ESET Knowledgebase article: How to recognize spam