So my parents recently bought a secondhand laptop and I decided to full scan it before doing anything in the laptop, also heres a bit of backstory, when we first booted the laptop up, it started suddenly installing a chinese application that claimed to be an antivirus, few days later my parents delete it, few days later I full scan and see 5 viruses, i decided to do another fullscan and its currently going on. Any tips to remove the malware and the viruses? I’m afraid for my laptop as its my only desktop right now and its for both home and school.
Note: I just finished the scan, and i think i removed the viruses and malware, and I’ve settled things with my parents, though im still not closing things as im unsure to how things would go, or should I open a new post and close this one?
Nuke the living fuck out of your hdd then reinstall windows if your parents disagree take your dads credit cards an start spending then hell realise what hes doin not nuking it
Based on all the comments it seems like you have users who are A) incredibly ill-informed, and B) amazingly confident. This is a terrible combination. Recommend that they take the laptop to a reputable shop and let them deal with it. I would not, for even a moment, put my hands on the machine. I would not use it, even for a moment. That machine is burned as far as I’m concerned, and unfit for use.
Wait what do you mean by the machine is burned?
Figuratively. If they’re not going to properly sanitize it of malware, then it’s “hot” as in, “dangerously infected”. I would treat it as such and do nothing at all with the machine. I would go so far as to avoid the network to which it is connected.