Hey everyone, I recently had a pretty alarming experience while downloading some software. I received a warning from Windows indicating that someone might have accessed my computer. I actually witnessed some bizarre activity, like them opening my password manager and browsing through my files. To be safe, I unplugged my internet connection and haven't turned my PC back on since. I'm also dealing with stage 4 renal disease, which means I'm on a lot of medications like prednisone that really mess with my sleep and could be causing hallucinations. I'm anxious about plugging my PC back in—how can I check if it's safe without turning it on? Additionally, can I still use components like my CPU and graphics card from this machine in a different build? What about my bootable Tails USB, external SSD, and wireless devices? Are those safe to use?
1 Answer
Start by running scans with Windows Defender and Malwarebytes. Check the history on Defender too. Don't forget to look at your autostart programs and registry. It might also help to have someone else take a look at it with you. If anything suspicious pops up, consider reinstalling Windows from a USB and changing all your passwords. Setting up two-factor authentication can also boost your security!
You'd actually take that risk knowing someone might have remote access? I panicked too and when I tried going into recovery mode, the guy was still messing around. I couldn't turn off my PC until I unplugged it! I'm really anxious about my sensitive files falling into the wrong hands.