I've had this computer for over 6 years, and lately, it's been freezing at startup and throwing blue screens at me more often. After some late-night research, I stumbled upon a questionable Cloudflare captcha that I stupidly interacted with, thinking I had to prove I wasn't a bot. Turns out, that was a big mistake! I ran scans with HitmanPro and ESET, which found and removed two malware infections. After changing my email, Steam, and Instagram passwords for safety, I did a check in my appdata/roaming folder and found the malware files still lurking there. I deleted them manually, but now I'm worried about the possibility that they could still be on the computer, especially since my attempts at factory resetting it failed. I'm already planning to get a new PC, but I'm anxious about whether those malware remnants might be stealing my passwords despite my recent password changes. Can anyone recommend what I should do next? Is changing my passwords enough, or should I consider other measures? I'm frustrated and honestly contemplating just smashing this thing to smithereens if that's a viable solution!
3 Answers
First off, if you're feeling really paranoid about this, just go ahead and pull your storage drive out and smash it with a hammer! Get that frustration out! For a replacement drive, you can find a decent one for under $60. Then, download a fresh copy of Windows and install it on the new drive — that should give you a clean start! I totally get your worries about losing data, but starting fresh is often worth it in these situations.
It might help to check for crash logs if you're still experiencing those blue screens. If you can access Windows normally or via Safe Mode, look for dump files in C:WindowsMinidump. These files can provide insights into what's going wrong with your system. If you find any, zip them up and upload them to a file sharing service; we'll help you analyze what's happening. This could also clue you into any ongoing issues stemming from the malware!
Definitely change your passwords again, especially if you did it on the infected machine. Use a different device, like your phone, to change them. Also, make sure to set up 2FA on your accounts for extra security. If you've got no important files to keep, a complete Windows reinstall from a USB drive will wipe out those malware remnants and give you peace of mind!
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