I'm struggling with a stubborn Trojan on my laptop. I've already tried several antivirus solutions, including ESET online scan, Malwarebytes, and Bitdefender. Although Malwarebytes quarantined 9 files, I still encountered a phishing site popping up afterward, which makes me suspect the Trojan is still there. I attempted a factory reset on my laptop, but it didn't fix anything, and I'm worried that the Trojan is preventing a proper reset. I also tried holding Shift while restarting, but that didn't work either. Now I'm considering reinstalling Windows from a USB stick, but I've hit a snag – I can't connect to Wi-Fi or control the sound settings when I turn on the laptop. Will reinstalling Windows help with these issues? What should I do next?
3 Answers
Definitely go for a clean install! That’s your best bet to get rid of the Trojan for good. Grab an empty USB drive, follow the recommended steps from Microsoft to prepare it – ideally do this on a non-infected computer if possible. You can find the instructions on their support site.
Good luck! I hope it works out for you!
Honestly, when it gets to this point, the best course of action is to do a secure wipe of your drives and install a fresh version of Windows using a USB stick. Make sure to create the USB using Microsoft's media creation tool on a clean PC, not the one infected. A factory reset often won't completely remove viruses, so wiping everything is necessary. I’d also suggest checking for BIOS updates, just in case the malware got that far, although it’s rare.
Using a USB to reinstall Windows usually does the trick! Just ensure you wipe the drive clean in your BIOS settings first. It's a solid way to ensure that the Trojan doesn't come back after the install.
Thanks for the tip! I'll make sure to use a clean PC for creating the USB.