I've noticed my computer's been running really slow for a few weeks now, even when I'm not doing anything special. Avast says everything's fine but I'm not really convinced. Are there things I can check to make sure there's nothing weird running in the background?
Slowdown can have tons of causes that have nothing to do with malware, so it's good that you're checking, but don't panic too much. Avast isn't bad, but no antivirus is 100% perfect. What can help: check your task manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), go to the "Processes" tab and see what's eating up your RAM or CPU. If you spot weird stuff with weird names or system processes that are using a ton of resources, that's suspicious. Also try going to the "Startup" tab to see what runs when you turn on your PC - fewer things there = better performance overall.
One thing that helps: do a scan with a different antivirus for free. Malwarebytes has a free version that often catches things Avast misses, or you can test with Windows Defender in safe mode (which is already on your PC). Restart by pressing F8 or through advanced startup settings, then do a full scan. Also, check your browser extensions - sometimes it's just some weird thing you installed that's slowing everything down.
If after that your PC is still lagging and you don't find anything, it might just be that you have too many files, your hard drive is dying, or Windows needs a reinstall. But yeah, do these checks first, it costs nothing.
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