I just saw this e-mail from the Max Secure Security Newsletter.  Since I have been traveling lately I have been unable to keep up with my blog posting.   This e-mail seemed valuable enough for me to take time out of my schedule to share, especially since this week sees the 25th anniversary of the PC virus.

So how can you tell if your computer is infected?  MaxSecure tells us:

The computer slows down; browsing the Web is extremely slow

• Your computer (not just your connection speed) slows down significantly whether online or offline.

• Programs take longer to load. Memory-intensive operations take a lot of time to start.

You are constantly being redirected to websites other than you expected

• One of the oldest and most common spyware tricks is to automatically change your Web browser’s default or start-up homepage – the page that first appears when you start your browser or click the “home” button.

• You end up in a same strange site, whenever you perform a search.

Your antivirus software is disabled and you’re not able to re-enable it

• Your firewall and antivirus programs are frequently turned off automatically.

• You cannot access security related Websites or cannot update your anti-virus definitions.

Your Computer starts behaving strangely

• Increased use of disk space and growth in file size-the virus attaches itself to many files.

• Abnormal write-protect errors. The virus trying to write to a protected disk.

The first of these symptoms (slowing down) can happen for other reasons.  Sometimes, the operating system just seems to get “clogged up” – rebooting generally works then.  Other times, a new software item can cause conflicts: uninstalling it will generally clear that problem.

I hope that you will find these guidelines helpful in identifying computer infections.  Let me know.