I clicked on a link from a gambling website, and now I think malware has infected my laptop. It's slowing down my internet and using a lot of memory. The task manager shows I have over 12 Google Chrome tabs open, even though I closed the site right away. I tried clearing the cookies in Chrome, but that hasn't helped. I really don't want to reset my laptop because it has important files and I can't back them up due to limited space. What can I do to resolve this without losing everything?
2 Answers
Honestly, if all you did was click a link, it might just be a fake ad causing the slowdown. A reboot could fix the problem if you haven't downloaded anything questionable. But if you did download a program or let something run, make sure to clarify that so we can help you further.
It sounds like your laptop might be seriously infected. One option is to use a Live USB to scan your system while the main OS is off, but I've seen cases where malware quickly brings itself back if not cleaned properly. There's even a chance that this malware could be a ransomware type, which tends to eat up resources as it prepares to encrypt your files. I strongly suggest not booting up your laptop until you can run the cleaning process, and it might be good to back up your important files using a Live USB before proceeding with a reset.
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