Check your PC for signs of infection and follow recommended steps to remove any threats.
Check your PC for signs of infection and follow recommended steps to remove any threats.
I don't know if this is meant to be a 100% hardware troubleshooting subforum if it is the case I apologize but I seem to have a malware problem on my PC and I wasn't sure where to ask for advice... I was trying to access my AppData folder earlier and I noticed it wasn't showing. I checked in the View panel of windows explorer and Hidden items was unticked. I did not do that. When I try to enable it the explorer refreshes itself and it auto unticks the radio button immediately. After rebooting my computer another shady behavior popped up, my wifi says it isn't connected but I'm not 100% sur that it isn't. It won't display the networks or let me do anything to the WiFi adapter. So I turned off the router's wifi momentarily just in case. This to me looks like a virus and a quick Google search seems to indicate that I might be right, but I'm not 100% sure it's not just windows bugging out. What should I do? I have launched a Bitdefender scan but I guess it'll take ages on my old clogged up system and I don't know if it can be trusted... Is there something I can do to speed it up, like some folders that I should do a manual scan on? Additionally Bitdefender seems to find some password protected files but isn't asking me for any password, is that normal? Is it just skipping anything password protected? What do I do if it doesn't find anything? I'm willing to format everything and reinstall windows but how can I make sure that the virus is actually neutralized, will a normal windows formatting be enough or do I need to use some program to write zeroes on every drive? What about my home network do I need to scan or replace everything with a drive? And how can I save my work that is on my computer, I have one folder with work projects that I absolutely cannot loose but I'm afraid that if I plug in my external SSD the malware might copy itself to it... This is an unprecedented situation for me in 25 years of using computers I've never had to deal with something similar so I apologize for that flurry of questions and thank you for your patience and for any advice you might give.
Many believe viruses and malware cause most computer issues, especially when stressed. However, they overlook that malware is often designed with specific goals—such as monitoring activity, stealing personal information, or mining cryptocurrency. Only intentionally crafted malware would attempt to expose these details. TL;DR: This might not be a virus, but a scan could confirm. Recently, I faced problems with hidden items being automatically unchecked. It seems a file explorer component may have become corrupted, though I can't recall the exact solution. The internet icon occasionally glitches, but usually recovers after restarting.
I think I resolved the hidden files checkbox by adhering to these steps. First, reset the Windows explorer using Ctrl + Shift + Esc, then right-click on it and select End task. In the Task Manager, click File and run a new task with explorer.exe. Additionally, consider running a SFC scan via the System File Checker to fix any corrupted files. The recommended link provides guidance on performing this repair. Source: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind...57e8e5f1b7
Someone claimed BitDefender was causing issues with Windows, suggesting I disable it to adjust settings. They pointed to a support page where they said "it's not me, you have a virus." I’m inclined to trust Microsoft’s guidance but found it odd from BitDefender’s side. I might hold off until the scan finishes before acting. It’s worth noting that Windows network settings often have glitches, and I noticed my Wi-Fi seemed off even though the adapter appeared active. Usually, a reboot fixes these kinds of problems, but this time it didn’t. Still, I’m open to the idea that it’s just a Windows bug.
Sure, I also use Bitdefender. When I checked the comment and page, I thought it was unlikely to be malware (for reasons mentioned) or that Bitdefender had altered my registry, since I'd installed it for a long time without problems. The Wi-Fi issue makes me suspect a corrupt Windows file rather than malware or an issue with Bitdefender. Have you tried the two methods I shared earlier?
The first approach isn’t effective, which makes sense since a complete restart should have reinitialized the explorer. For method 2, I executed SFC in verifyonly and am currently checking the outcomes.
Things seem odd lately. After running sfc /scannow on the connected machine, everything started functioning again. Then BitDefender appeared and flagged something suspicious about 30 seconds after the reboot. It’s unclear if it was a real threat or if the scan caused the issue. I’m still planning a full system check and additional tests to confirm there’s no malware. Thanks for your assistance @will0hlep.