Making sure that it is detecting all of the malware that it is supposed to Before you check anything else, this is the most important thing that you should find out first.
If your antivirus solution is not picking up all of the malware that is on your computer then it is pretty much useless.
The way that you are able to check this is by uninstalling the antivirus that you use now and installing a different brand.
It is not wise to have two antivirus solutions installed on your computer at the same time so it is best to uninstall the previous version before you start this test.
You can always reinstall it later on.
So after the new antivirus is installed, run a scan and see what it is able to find.
If it finds nothing or one or two pieces of malware that your old one didn't then it is not a big deal.
If it is able to find a whole bunch of new malware on your system then you might have a problem.
You might want to think about not going back to the old one that you used to use.
Check the times that it is supposed to run To check and make sure that the antivirus that you have installed on your system is running scans when it is supposed to, set a scan for a time that you are going to be able to see it.
Most of the time the scan is set to go when you are most likely not using the computer, like at 3 in the morning.
Change that time to 15 minutes from now and see what happens.
If the scan runs then you know you are fine.
Some of the antivirus solutions that are out there have a problem with the timer in the program.
Make sure that yours is not one of them.
And now check to see if the software is checking all of the folders that it is supposed to When you set the program to scan the whole computer, sometimes it already has a set of files that it is automatically going to scan.
The creators of the software know how your operating system is set up and so they go after the places that malware is most likely hiding at.
You want a piece of software that is able to check your computer and see all of the files and folders that are on there.
After it scans this, it will then scan those same files and folders looking for malware.
Most antivirus software does this but there are some exceptions that do not.
To test if yours is one of them, scan a couple of folders that are not normal Windows folders and make sure that they come up clean.
Making sure that your antivirus is effective is very important.
If you do not then your computer can be at risk and you will not even know it.
If your antivirus solution is not picking up all of the malware that is on your computer then it is pretty much useless.
The way that you are able to check this is by uninstalling the antivirus that you use now and installing a different brand.
It is not wise to have two antivirus solutions installed on your computer at the same time so it is best to uninstall the previous version before you start this test.
You can always reinstall it later on.
So after the new antivirus is installed, run a scan and see what it is able to find.
If it finds nothing or one or two pieces of malware that your old one didn't then it is not a big deal.
If it is able to find a whole bunch of new malware on your system then you might have a problem.
You might want to think about not going back to the old one that you used to use.
Check the times that it is supposed to run To check and make sure that the antivirus that you have installed on your system is running scans when it is supposed to, set a scan for a time that you are going to be able to see it.
Most of the time the scan is set to go when you are most likely not using the computer, like at 3 in the morning.
Change that time to 15 minutes from now and see what happens.
If the scan runs then you know you are fine.
Some of the antivirus solutions that are out there have a problem with the timer in the program.
Make sure that yours is not one of them.
And now check to see if the software is checking all of the folders that it is supposed to When you set the program to scan the whole computer, sometimes it already has a set of files that it is automatically going to scan.
The creators of the software know how your operating system is set up and so they go after the places that malware is most likely hiding at.
You want a piece of software that is able to check your computer and see all of the files and folders that are on there.
After it scans this, it will then scan those same files and folders looking for malware.
Most antivirus software does this but there are some exceptions that do not.
To test if yours is one of them, scan a couple of folders that are not normal Windows folders and make sure that they come up clean.
Making sure that your antivirus is effective is very important.
If you do not then your computer can be at risk and you will not even know it.