There are many threats that could put our computers at risk. There are many types of viruses, malware, Trojans, attacks … Hackers can even modify some characteristics of the operating system and be able to carry out their attacks in a simple way and without raising suspicions from the antivirus. In this article we are going to talk about how to know if a Windows process is a virus . They could use them to carry out a wide variety of attacks and thus compromise privacy and security. We will also give advice to protect ourselves.
Processes running on Windows may be a virus
Many processes are part of the operating system and will always be running. They are essential to be able to open the Windows menu, run applications of the system, have a network connection … Others may also be running because we have installed them and are part of a program.
Now, it could be the case that some process that is running in Windows is a virus. We could have been victims of some type of attack that is putting our security at risk. Also even that they have modified a legitimate process by having infected some system characteristic or having created a process that pretends to be a safe one to prevent the antivirus from detecting it.
Therefore, processes running on Windows can be a threat. This means that we must be aware at all times of the importance of protecting our equipment and not making mistakes. Otherwise we could be victims of very varied attacks.
How to tell if a Windows process is malware
First of all we are going to explain how we can see the processes that are running in Windows. To do this we have to right click on Start and click on Task Manager. We can also access it using the key combination Ctrl + Alt + Del.
Once we are in the Task Manager, all the processes that are running and those that are also in the background will appear. We can see the applications, Windows processes, etc. If we go to Details we can see more information about each process.
We can even click on any of them and give it to finish. However, we could put our equipment at risk. This process may be necessary for proper operation. However, it is an option that we have there if we notice that something is wrong.
Close a process
Is our computer malfunctioning? A very simple way to be able to check if it is a malware is simply to close that process. Be careful, this is not always possible. Let’s take as an example that we have a hidden cryptocurrency miner on our team. Logically, this is going to be consuming resources and is going to put the proper functioning at risk.
If we see that it is not going well and that some process could be the cause of this error and we have suspicions, a simple first option is to close it. To do this we have to go to the Task Manager as we have explained and there click with the right mouse button and click End task.
Inform us if a Windows process is dangerous
On the Internet we can make use of multiple online tools to inform ourselves about something specific related to our team. There are also services that help us improve security and avoid problems. This is what we are going to do in this case.
This is File.net , a web page where we can find information about a process. In case we do not know if a Windows process is dangerous, what we have to do is enter this website and put the exact name of the process in the search engine.
If it is something related to Windows, it will tell us what exactly its function is and we will see that it is not a threat. Now, if a process is running that is indeed a danger and has been registered as such, this web page will indicate it to us.
Perform a system scan
There is no better way to detect threats on your computer than to use a good antivirus . There are many options available to us and they can help us find malicious software, processes that may have infected the device, dangerous files …
What we are going to do is run our antivirus and carry out a full threat scan. If we have it updated and it is a good security program, in case of detecting a process that could be dangerous, it would send us a warning.
Search in Google
A very simple alternative and also similar to the one we mentioned above about File.net, is to simply do a search in Google or in any Internet search engine. There we will put the name of the process that is running and of which we are suspicious and we will find a lot of related information.
If it is something dangerous, malware or similar, it is very likely that there is information about it in forums and Internet pages. Other users may have already reported this problem and therefore we can confirm our suspicions that it is something dangerous.
How to avoid dangerous processes in Windows
We have seen that there may be malicious processes in Windows . Also how to know if a specific one can be a threat to our security and privacy. Now we are going to give some tips to avoid getting to the point of being victims of this type of problem. We can make some interesting recommendations.
Always keep equipment updated
Something that cannot be missing is to always have the systems correctly updated . There are many threats on the network. Many of them will take advantage of vulnerabilities in the operating system. This could lead to malicious processes running.
Therefore, we must always observe very well the versions that we have installed of the system and also of all the applications. In the case of Windows, we have to go to Start, enter Settings and go to Update and security. There, automatically, it will show us if there are pending updates or everything is correct.
Download only from official sources
Of course something very important is to download programs and files only from official and safe sources . We must not install software from third-party sites that have been maliciously modified to carry out attacks.
It is important that all the content on our computer is safe, reliable and leaves no room for doubt. In this way we will have a lot of gains for our objective of avoiding malicious processes in Windows.
Use security tools
There is no shortage of security programs to detect threats, avoid downloading files that are a problem and, ultimately, keep everything in order. But we are not only talking about antivirus, but also about other programs such as firewalls or extensions for the browser.
This is something that we must apply regardless of what operating system we are using or what type of device. At any time we can be victims of an attempted attack through the network and we must be protected.
Common sense
One more question, possibly the most important, is common sense . We must not make mistakes that could put our teams at risk. It would be a mistake, for example, to download insecure files that come to us by mail or click on a third-party link without knowing if it is really safe.
In short, by following these steps we can avoid security problems with Windows processes. The clear goal is to keep our computers safe, make no mistakes, and reduce the impact hackers can have.
