I'm new to Linux and think I might have accidentally installed a worm. Since I was already planning to reinstall Linux Mint, would that completely eradicate the worm? My main concern is: if I use a boot USB that's been infected, could it just reinfect my system after I reinstall it?
3 Answers
First off, which worm are we talking about? How did you even find out you might have one? Infections on Linux are pretty rare, and in most cases, a complete reinstall or format should clear things up. Just keep in mind that if you were running any Windows applications through Wine, that's where trouble might arise. Usually, a simple format of your drives is enough to get rid of any unwanted files, but I'd recommend being cautious about what you’re running to begin with.
Honestly, worms are pretty uncommon on Linux systems. Can you give more details about how you think your system got compromised? If you're genuinely feeling uneasy, consider making the USB installer from a completely different machine to avoid any chance of reinfection.
Worms on Linux? Very rare! Do you have any specific signs of an infection, like strange files popping up? If you're not sure, you might even create a disk image of your hard drive for someone to help you analyze it.
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