How to detect viruses with Windows Task Manager

Detect viruses

A problem that has always attacked Windows users is that of computer viruses and all types of malware.

It is not only Windows that suffers from these evils, but being the most used system in computers around the world, tends to be the main target of these attacks.

Although we can take many measures to protect ourselves from the different security threats that are lurking, sometimes it is quite difficult, especially when the user is inexperienced and can be easily fooled by malicious sites and programs that seek to do harm in some way.

A few months ago we were discussing whether it is really necessary to use an antivirus, and we concluded that most of the time this answer will depend on the type of user and their behavior.

Not all antivirus programs have the same databases, so a malicious file can be detected by one tool and not by another, none is infallible, and some viruses are so complex that they "hide" very well so as not to be detected and removed.

Review the active processes in your system

If you suspect that you have some kind of malware infecting your computer, and you don't have antivirus, or the tools you have so far haven't detected it, however simple and silly it may seem, Windows Task Manager may be able to help you.

Days ago we commented how you can take full advantage of the Task Manager in Windows, is a very useful tool, which does not get as much credit as it deserves, and that many never even use, without knowing that it can help them in many aspects to improve and control the performance of their computers.

If we run the Task Manager, we can review all the applications, processes and services that are active at the moment, and we can try to kill them.

Malware often runs from the start of the system and is active in the background, functioning as a permanent process, which often means that it cannot be detected or removed with antivirus tools.

If you use Windows 7 you can press Ctrl + Alt + Esc, or Ctrl + Alt + Delete and then choose to open the Task Manager from the menu. In Windows 8.1 you can right-click on the start button and select it from there.

How do I know what the malicious processes are?

This is the tricky part, if you're not used to using Task Manager, or familiar with the name of the legitimate system processes, you may feel overwhelmed and don't know what the hell to do now.

On the site I am not a Geek you can find a huge list of processes by name, and get a description of what each serves for and its origin.

So, in case when you open the task manager you see something that you think is strange or that you can't relate to anything legitimately installed in Windows, try looking up the name of the process on this site and find out if it's an uninvited guest with bad intentions.

Now, hardly the task manager is going to help you eliminate the threat, only to detect it, the malicious processes, when finished with this tool, usually start again alone as if by magic (it is not magic is what they are programmed to do), so you will need to look for a tool to help you eliminate them.

In Bitelia we have already recommended Spybot Search & Destroy several times, to mention one very useful and effective.

In any case, knowing this little trick can help you solve a problem and save your neck on more than one occasion.

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