My PC was recently compromised, and ever since then it has been crashing almost every day. The monitors sometimes glitch, and the computer does not always shut down properly. I'm worried that malware may be consuming memory or damaging something, but I'm not sure where to check for the cause. The attacker also changed my Microsoft account username and password, so I'm concerned about losing access if I sign out or reset the computer. What should I do first?
1 Answer
If you believe the system was compromised, treat it as untrusted. From a different clean device, secure your Microsoft account and any other important accounts, change passwords, enable two-factor authentication, and check the account recovery details. Then back up only personal documents and photos—not programs or suspicious files—and perform a clean operating-system reinstall or full reset. A reset is usually safer than trying to remove an attacker manually, especially if account credentials were changed.
Will I still be able to recover my files and account? I can’t log back into Microsoft if I sign out because the username and password were changed.