

Other times they contain links to malicious websites that will attempt to drop more malware on your PC.

Sometimes they're ads for legitimate products, netting an affiliate fee for the adware perpetrator any time someone clicks on the ad. While not as common as they used to be, adware programs bombard their victims with advertisements. Software isn't perfect, and sometimes a brand-new zero-day malware attack can slip past your security, at least until the purveyors of your protection push out an update. Just because you've got malware protection installed doesn't mean you can ignore these warning signs. Is your PC just slow, or is malware dragging it down? How can you know? If you’ve noticed any of the seven warning signs below, you may have a malware problem. Sometimes, though, a slow system or weird behavior can be an outward and visible sign of an inward and terrible malware infestation. The mishmash of programs you’ve installed may not get along, yielding peculiar behaviors. Instead of enjoying blazingly fast speed, you become a connoisseur of spinning “wait” icons. After a while, things start to get messy. Oh, you may have to clear out some crapware that came pre-installed, but that new PC is humming along at its most effective.

