I accidentally ran a malicious program, what do I do?

I accidentally ran a malicious program, what do I do?

 

So, you've ran a piece of malicious software and you don't know what to do. Your accounts, personal information and files are in danger and this thread is going to learn you how to go about securing everything after experiencing an attack on your computer. I am not going to recommend that you use any tools to scan your computer with as not all of them do a great job, files can be hidden very easily.

 

Table of Contents:

1. Change passwords
2. Backup files
3. Go to a brand new installation of Windows

 

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1. Change passwords

Like I mentioned in my most recent thread, you're going to want to create a brand new password for each online service/social media platform which you've signed into on your computer. It is important that you don't use the same exact password for everything, as you could be caught up in online data breaches and people will have access to your password(s). If you want the best possible advice on storing and retrieving the most secure passwords, you'll definitely want to check out that thread I've linked above.

 

2. Backup files

Assuming the malicious program you've ran isn't ransomware, you'll want to backup all of your important files to a USB device or an online file host which you can use later to retrieve your files again. If it is ransomware that you're facing, skip this step and move over to topic 3. There are three online file hosts which I personally recommend, I've had experience using all of them. Those of which are Mega, Mediafire and Google Drive. Unfortunately, all of these services require accounts to use, Mega has a user friendly interface but somewhat slow download speeds. I believe Google Drive offers the most storage space and is similar to Mediafire in terms of download speeds (fast).

 

3. Go to a brand new installation of Windows

Obtain a USB drive and download the Windows Media Creation Tool. Once you've done that, disable your internet connection and download an image file onto the USB that you're using and ensure that you choose not to keep any existing files. Wait for the process to complete and boot onto your new, clean installation of Windows. Now, if you were using a file host earlier, you're going to want to go back to that and obtain your old files. Also install any drivers if necessary.

 

Hope this thread helps!