Virus / malware through add-ons?

I have a question and I recently downloaded a dubious ad blocker while downloading a program, more precisely the YouTube video ad blocker (here is an article about it, don't worry, the download page is not: https://www.pcrisk.com/removal-guides/13616-video-adblocker-adware)

According to the article, you can download a virus or be redirected to sites where you download one. I deleted the add-on directly, after maybe 5 minutes, and then checked the computer using the McAfee virus scanner and Malwarebytes scanner, nothing was found. I tried the same on 2 old PCs, and nothing was found, even when I did not delete the add-on as a test, but left it installed on the PC or Firefox during the virus / malware scan.

My question is, because I'm very panicked about this and have just bought a laptop for 700 euro: Could it be that the PC was damaged somewhere? I'm just not quite sure whether any programs were installed with the add-on, on my new laptop I'm honestly not sure whether the 1-2 programs I don't know were already on the PC, with the both older PC's where I tried, nothing was found afterwards. I hope that somebody can calm me down here, because the whole thing annoys me terribly while using the laptop and I also have the feeling (can of course be imaginary because of the fear) that the PC has been a tad slower since then.

I've also completely reset the PC in the meantime, but I still can't get rid of the feeling that something has been wrong since then.

Could it be that the PC was damaged somewhere anyway?

As long as you don't have Stuxnet, everything is fine (no, you don't).
A virus can't harm your computer.

In an emergency, you can load a virus scanner again and let it look over it.

A virus or malware can't damage the hardware. But of course in the worst case it can break the software. The bottom line is that you would have to reinstall the laptop.

You should uninstall the program again and check the system with a virus / malware scanner.

Read here: https://www.google.com/...ebh4iYHbhC

With reinstall the laptop do you mean reset the pc? I have already done that. And what exactly does software mean or what is it exactly on the PC? Windows right?

I've already scanned the PC with a virus / malware scanner, nothing was found…

I already have, according to virus scanners and malware scanners nothing was found…

Then everything is OK and you don't need to do anything else.

Yes, resetting is also a way of undoing everything, so that the status on the laptop is as if you just bought it. Such a possibility is offered by many laptop manufacturers.

Software are all installed programs. This includes e.g. Windows or Word, Internet Explorer etc.

If nothing is found by scanners, then everything is probably fine. You also reset the laptop. With that I think you are on the safe side.

And nothing happens to the hardware? So the PC is not slowing down, the battery is getting worse etc?

Can't something be damaged in the background in the hardware etc? So the PC is not slowing down, the battery is getting worse etc?

Can't something be damaged in the background in the hardware etc?

No - a virus can't harm a computer.

If your computer is slowing down, you can check it in the task manager - but if nothing is found, the computer is clean.

What if you have uninstalled a program that was possibly harmful and only then let the virus / malware scanner run over it? Can you still find damage in the PC?

What if you have uninstalled a program that was possibly harmful and only then let the virus / malware scanner run over it? Can you still find damage in the PC?

Only when the virus has established itself - otherwise not because it is then gone.

If you want to download a program from the Internet, go to the developer page because there you can be sure that he is not secretly putting a virus in your shoes (unless a developer who specifically develops programs to distribute a virus ) but I'm not assuming that! If you ever want to download an AddBlocker, be extremely careful because this is where most viruses are hidden!

So if you have uninstalled the programs and only then run the virus scanner over them and it doesn't find anything - can you still be sure? And how do you check that in the task manager? Thanks for your help and sorry for my riddling with questions.

All good.
Then you can be sure, yes.

You can see your workload in the task manager - if you think your computer is slowing down, you will find out why.

And based on which parameters? How do you know if it's busy or not? I'm an absolute layman…

On the CPU, RAM, GPU or hard disk usage - if the computer does not run smoothly, just look there and see which values are particularly high.