Hey everyone, I really need some advice on how to remove a possible hacker or virus from my laptop. I might have accidentally executed something suspicious in my Command Prompt yesterday, and ever since, I've been dealing with compromised accounts. My Instagram, Discord, and even my Facebook have been affected, with phishing attempts happening in my DMs. I can't even recover my Instagram since my email was changed.
I've been changing passwords and logging out of all devices on Facebook, but despite that, I just noticed my name was changed and someone is messaging others from my account. I'm at a complete loss. I'm wondering if resetting my laptop will help in cleaning this up. Thanks for any help!
2 Answers
You actually don't need to just reset your laptop. Instead, consider doing a clean install of your operating system from a USB drive, and make sure you delete everything on your system drive. That's really the safest option!
Just a heads up, wiping your drive and clean installing isn't the same as a regular reset, which might not fully clear everything.
It sounds like you've experienced credential theft. Unfortunately, if you've shared data with the hackers, resetting your system won't reverse that. Still, I recommend a full wipe and a fresh OS install just to be safe. These hackers could have installed further malware or keyloggers on your system.
Thanks for clarifying! I thought changing my passwords would be enough, but it seems like they still have access to my Facebook. I'm really hoping a reset prevents further issues.
I see the point. How do I go about doing a clean install? Any tips would be great!