In this article, we will consider the situation when a message appears on the computer stating that a virus has been found on it, it is running slowly or with errors, and what actions the user should take in this case, and how to protect their data from loss.
In fact, if a user sees a message about a virus being detected, that's good. This means that the antivirus program has detected a virus and will most likely remove it without user intervention.
This message does not mean that the computer is infected with a virus. It's just that you downloaded or copied a virus-infected file to your computer and the antivirus program most likely deleted it before problems began to appear from it. In the same way, an anti-virus program can report that it has found a web page that is infected with viruses and the further use of which can lead to problems with the computer.
In other words, the message that a virus has been detected when the computer is used correctly does not mean at all that it is already infected or damaged. This means that you must not use an infected page or infected file. The system simply warns you of a possible problem if you use them.
You can also go to your antivirus program and check the quarantine or virus detection logs to see more detailed information about the virus and what actions were taken on it.
If your computer is not running an antivirus program and your computer starts to run slowly or has errors, there is a good chance that it is infected with viruses. Also, this situation can occur if you use an anti-virus program with an outdated anti-virus database.
If an antivirus program is not installed on the computer, then it must be installed as soon as possible. Of course, there are not so many high-quality free antivirus programs. You can consider one of them provided by Microsoft - Microsoft Security Essentials. This antivirus program will protect and clean your computer from viruses.
But keep in mind that the use of this program will only be relevant for versions of Windows up to 7 (inclusive). Starting with Windows 8, the operating system already provides for the use of the built-in Windows Defender antivirus program, which is already installed and ready to go.
If you have anti-virus software installed on your computer, but you suspect that you have viruses, try installing another anti-virus program and scan your computer with it.
Some developers offer antivirus programs with a trial period of use or even online versions. Using such programs, you can scan your computer for viruses for free.
Some viruses and other types of malicious software penetrate so deeply into the system that it becomes quite problematic to remove them from there. Especially anti-virus programs that were installed after the computer was infected, as the viruses had enough time to multiply and download additional malware.
In this case, you can not do without booting in Safe Mode. When booting in Safe Mode, Windows does not load third-party applications (which also include viruses). In this way, you can run the anti-virus program without the interference of viruses.
To boot into Safe Mode, restart your computer while holding down the Shift key. Run the antivirus program after booting the computer in Safe Mode and restart it again after that.
If cleaning a computer from viruses from Safe Mode does not work, you can also try using the "Antivirus Rescue Disk" - used to check and treat infected computers that cannot be cured using antivirus programs running under the operating system. By downloading "Antivirus Rescue Disk", the antivirus program gets a clean space to work with the computer and clean it from viruses, which in this case will be idle.
As a rule, large companies developing anti-virus software have "Antivirus Rescue Disk" among their products.
If the malware has damaged the system so much that after removing the viruses, Windows does not load or continues to work incorrectly, then you can try resetting it to factory settings or performing a clean installation of the operating system.
But keep in mind that doing this on a computer will
