Hey everyone! I made a big mistake and ran a suspicious .exe file that I thought was safe—both Windows Defender and VirusTotal gave it a clean bill of health. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a trojan, which Windows Defender caught and quarantined, but I later discovered that it had already compromised many of my accounts (Microsoft, Discord, Steam, Instagram, etc.) while I was asleep. I quickly unplugged my PC from the internet and ran some offline scans but didn't find anything.
I decided to wipe my C: drive and reinstall Windows, and now I'm running both Windows Defender and Malwarebytes, which say everything is fine. However, right after the install, one of the drivers I tried to install (N360gamers setup.exe) was flagged as another trojan.
I'm looking for advice on how to make sure the trojan is completely gone. Does the malware work only while the PC is running and connected to the internet, or do I need to worry about more long-term complications from running that file? Any help is greatly appreciated!
4 Answers
If you wiped your drive and reinstalled, you’ve done the most critical step to prevent physical damage from the malware. Just remember that recovering hacked accounts can be tricky, so be prepared that it might take a while to get everything back to normal.
Wiping your computer and reinstalling Windows should eliminate any lingering malware. However, recovering your accounts might take a bit of time, and some might not be recoverable. This is also a good reminder to keep regular system backups in the future!
If you reinstalled Windows from a USB stick, you should be in the clear. Just make sure to do a few things: change all your passwords, enable two-factor authentication on your accounts, and remove any unknown devices linked to them. Also, check your email forwarding rules to ensure there’s nothing fishy going on. You should be good to go!
Just to be thorough, here’s a checklist:
1. Wipe your PC completely and reinstall Windows.
2. Change the passwords for all your accounts.
3. Enable multi-factor authentication.
4. Install reputable endpoint protection software like ESET or Kaspersky.
5. Always keep a backup.
Following these steps will help secure your system from hackers and get you back on track.
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