Hey folks, so I recently had a major issue where almost all my accounts linked to my primary email got breached. I took the necessary steps like resetting passwords, enabling MFA wherever I could, and scanned for malware using MalwareBytes and PowerShell to check for any suspicious programs. Thankfully, I haven't seen any further breaches since then.
However, a few days ago while gaming, I noticed my GPU load was at an alarming 100%. At first, I thought it was just a demanding game, but then it didn't show any VRAM usage. I shrugged it off as a game optimization issue. But then, while playing a simpler game, I experienced weird screen artifacts and color bleeding that I've never encountered with my IPS monitor before. I assumed it was maybe a sign my monitor was on its last legs.
Things took a turn this morning when I logged onto my PC. The GPU was still at 100% usage and I got some graphics artifacts like black squares on screen, messed up text, and everything was noticeably laggy. Task Manager showed varying usage; it dropped down to around 40% but began spiking again, making my computer unresponsive. I'm considering doing a fresh Windows install, but I'd prefer to avoid that as I'm in the middle of moving and don't have my backup drives handy. Plus, I'm worried that if there is malware, it could also affect my storage drives, which hold important files that I haven't backed up yet. Any thoughts on how to proceed?
2 Answers
Honestly, it sounds like your system might be mining crypto for someone else without you knowing. I'd recommend doing a complete wipe of your system to ensure everything is clean. If you do that, consider also wiping your HDDs if you're really paranoid about malware—though if you keep a backup boot drive, just wiping the OS and reinstalling could work as a starting point!
You should definitely try using Display Driver Uninstaller to remove your current GPU drivers completely, then reinstall the latest ones. If the problem persists afterward, it could indicate a hardware issue with your GPU. Just make sure to run the uninstaller in safe mode for best results!
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