How do I safely clean up an infected computer
We have a computer that was behaving suspiciously. We disconnected it from the network and from the internet and loaded Emsisoft and Malwarebytes offline versions. Emsisoft found 2 instances of malware and 1 pup, which were supposedly quarantined. We then ran Malwarebytes which, after a 55 hour run, found 10 instances: 3 of malware and 7 of pups. Before we had a chance to quarantine the items, Malwarebytes completed the scan and moved the findings to a log without quarantining or deleting the items. Two questions:
- How should we go about cleaning the items Malwarebytes found? Should we just navigate to the files and delete them? Should we right click on them & do a Malwarebytes scan and allow Malwarebytes to deal with them?
- Once we have cleaned the Malwarebytes items, is there still room for concern and if so what should be done next?
Back up any user files to an external drive. Then erase the drive using a product such as Darik's Boot and Nuke. This ensures that there is nowhere to hide and the infection cannot reload.
Reinstall Windows. Bring it up to date. Reinstall the application software. Then make a full image backup of the system so that if this happens again, the reinstall can be accomplished rapidly.
ASKER
Go back to a restore point that predates the suspicious behaviour.
This will most likely provide a 100% quick fix.
ASKER
Security is the protection of information systems from theft or damage to the hardware, the software, and the information on them, as well as from disruption or misdirection of the services they provide. The main goal of security is protecting assets, and an asset is anything of value and worthy of protection. Information Security is a discipline of protecting information assets from threats through safeguards to achieve the objectives of confidentiality, integrity, and availability or CIA for short. On the other hand, disclosure, alteration, and disruption (DAD) compromise the security objectives.
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A clean install is warrented. If you install Malwaarebytes then you should be able to go into its detection history are you sure it didn't remove anything into the quarantine?
PUPS are potentially unwanted programs. you might want to keep bongo bunny and exclude it