How to check if your PC has viruses or malware without antivirus

Many times when our computer becomes slow or is not very stable, we blame it on any type of malware or virus that may have entered us. The issue is that this is not always the case, so it is best to know how to check if our PC is really infected or not, but it is not necessary to install any antivirus to achieve this.

At the moment in which any computer goes from having a normal behavior to being slower and not being able to be stable, the first thoughts that many of us have are the possibility that we may have a virus or some type of malware.

It is normal for us to think this, since it seems the most feasible reason, especially if this slump occurs from one day to the next.

The issue is that we must know for sure if it is some type of malicious software, the cause of this slowdown in the system, and not some failure caused by a bad configuration, a program that is corrupt, one or several sectors. defective or an update that was installed incorrectly, among other things.

And for that you do not need to install any type of antivirus, since Windows 11 allows us to know it.

How to interpret that we have a virus?

The causes for a computer not to work correctly are so many that it could practically be anything, even what seems to us the most insignificant.

But it is also interesting to say that the fact that a PC runs well, fluid and fast, does not mean that it does not have some type of malware and even viruses.

Years ago this was impossible, since viruses occupied so many resources that they did not go unnoticed. The problem is that today this type of software may be lurking in the backgroundin some cases evading the detection system of the computer.

In any case, malware is a type of software that is created mainly to make money, so it is difficult, firstly, that it is the cause of an excessively visible slowdown and secondly, that it is going to damage the computer, since it uses him for his purposes.

Another thing would be a virus, since these are made to spoil whatever they can from the computer, from those that seem like a joke due to their low incidence to those that can cause practically irreparable damage.

There is no single evidence to know if our computer is infected, the only way to know for sure if we have any malicious software is to examine your system using a program dedicated to it.

Check for viruses

If we suspect that we may have a virus on the computer, it is best to be certain and there is no other way than to use software prepared to detect everything malicious that we could have on our hard drive.

But first you can take a look at Task Managerpressing Ctrl + Shift + Escto check if some strange process is consuming many resources, something that we will see with more information if we go to the tab Details.

If we see any process that is consuming more memory than normal and with a strange name, we can right-click on it and select search online to find information.

If information about malware appears when you search for the process, it is a sign that this file is likely infected. However, we should not assume that our computer is virus-free just because the process appears legitimate.

scan the computer

Windows 11 has its own scanning system to search for viruses on the computer, which you surely know or, at least, have heard of.

Is about Windows Defender, which we are going to use right now to get our computer scanned.

• Click on the magnifying glass on the start bar and write Security, clicking on windows security.
• We can also perform these steps: Settings > Privacy and security > Windows Security.
• To perform an analysis, click on Protection against viruses and threats.
• Now we click on quick scan to scan the system. Microsoft Defender will run a scan and give you the results, offering to remove any viruses it finds on your computer.

You can always use another antivirus that you think may be more efficient or that you have already bought, but the truth is that Microsoft’s is one of the best and it’s also free, that’s why we decided on it as the first option.

From there, it is each one who decides if they want to use it or opt for others of the many free ones that are available or go to the most famous paid ones that also exist.

Anyway, this is all you need to know to interpret in the best way, if your computer has some kind of malicious software that you should fight or at least rule out that option as the reason the PC isn’t running as smoothly as it should.

If we carry out a scan, we discover malware, we clean it and, even so, after restarting the computer it still does not give 100% of its potential, then we must see what other options can be considered so that a PC runs slow.