5 signs your computer has malware

Modern malware rarely announces itself. It hides, mines, watches and steals quietly. These five symptoms are the ones that bring infected machines to our bench most often.

1. Sudden, unexplained slowdowns

A machine that was fine last week now crawls, with the fan roaring on an empty desktop. Miners and botnets eat CPU in the background — check your task manager for unfamiliar processes hogging resources.

2. Pop-ups and new toolbars everywhere

Adware injects ads into pages, adds toolbars you never installed, and opens “warning” pop-ups urging you to call a number. Never call it — close the browser and scan.

3. Your searches go somewhere strange

Typing a familiar address lands on a lookalike search page full of ads. Browser hijackers reroute traffic to earn ad money — and sometimes to phishing copies of real sites.

4. Friends get odd messages from you

Spam sent from your email or social accounts means credentials are compromised. Change passwords from a clean device immediately and enable two-factor authentication everywhere it matters.

5. Security tools are disabled

The biggest red flag: your antivirus won’t open, updates fail, or settings change themselves. Serious infections fight back against removal — that is the moment to stop DIY attempts and let a professional clean the machine.