How-To Geek How-To Geek Whether you saw a message saying a virus was detected or your computer seems slow and unreliable, this guide will walk you through the process of dealing with your infection and removing the malware. While many viruses and other types of malware are designed simply to cause chaos, more and more malware is used by organized crime to steal credit card numbers and other sensitive data. Did Your Antivirus Say a Virus Was Detected? If you saw a message pop up that says a virus was detected, that's a good thing. Your antivirus noticed a virus and likely removed it without prompting you. This sort of message doesn't mean that you ever had a virus running on your computer. You could have downloaded a file that contained a virus and your antivirus removed the file before it could ever cause a problem. Or, a malicious file on an infected web page could have been noticed and dealt with before it caused any problems. In other words, a "virus detected" message that occurs during normal use of your computer doesn't mean your computer was ever infected or that the virus ever did anything. if you see a message like this, you're likely visiting an infected web page or downloading a harmful file. Try to avoid doing that in the future, but don't worry too much. You can also go into your antivirus program and check its quarantine or its virus detection logs to view more information about