Intruder Alert: Three Common Virus Warning Signs

Ever have that feeling that your car's "running funny," but you can't quite tell what's wrong? The same sort of feeling can indicate a possible virus infection on your computer.

• It's Not Running Right: Unexpected sluggishness, noticeably slow responses, high levels of computer activity when you're not doing anything, files disappearing from your hard disk, constant and unexpected modem traffic: All can indicate the presence of a live virus on your machine. Note that these performance problems don't always indicate a virus infection, but because viruses can be so devastating, you should consider them a likely culprit any time your computer starts acting up.
• Start and Stop and Start Again: Frequent crashes and out-of-the-blue system re-boots are also good indications that a virus has taken up residence on your computer. Be especially alert for a pattern of re-boots (the computer shutting down and immediately starting up again).
• It's Taking Me Someplace New: Any change in your browser's home page (the website that loads when you start your browser) is evidence of a possible virus infection, as is the appearance of an unexpected Web page when you re-load a "Cannot find server" page. A virus may have re-set your common settings, steering you away from familiar terrain and into trouble.

Follow-up: If you suspect a virus infection, immediately update your anti-virus software and run a complete system scan. If you don't find a virus, it's probably time to have your computer checked out to determine the cause of your problems.