Bizarre happenings. System of suspicious events.

[sshep1986]

So I believe my computer may be compromised. It started with Firefox browser becoming stubborn, sluggish and force closing/crashing. But didnt give it a second thought. Recently its Got to the stage that it would actually freeze my computer and I would have to power off with main switch in order to restart. Uninstalled firefox. Resorted to chrome. Issue resolved. So I thought. Few days ago Mcaffee reported unwanted programme. It was located in downloads and was bizarrely a Utorrent.exe. It claimed it was infected with Artemis! (insert random numbers and letters here) A quick google suggested it wasn't a major threat. Weird. SO I removed it. Yesterday logged on to my computer and Mcaffee said new unidentified connection to my network. I couldn't really work out what the new connection was ( about 20 laptops/computers/android tablets/ phones/ chrome casts in my house) and it gave no more information. Also I regularly use ccleaner (daily) and have noticed that every time it prompts me to now close Microsoft edge and explorer. It has never prompted this in previous cleans and I most certainly never open edge. BUT today the thing i find most concerning is that on turning on my computer on first reflection of the desktop I immediately noticed that "show hidden files"' had been activated. Im very concerned. Also worth noting that when im playing games I get random minimize to task bar as if something has happened in background. Now i use Mcaffee total protection which is in its last month of subscription and have recently installed spybot search and destroy and malware bytes, of which both return 0 positives. Suggestions and ideas welcome.

 

[kanewolf]

If you are concerned, wipe your hard drive and do a fresh OS install.

 

[sshep1986]

I suppose that's the most safe answer. I'm officially trying to avoid this due to a fresh WIPE/FORMAT just 2 months ago and the 1TB of games i will have to reinstall through steam. I suppose I am just being Lazy. I'm really after people opinions whether I'm just being paranoid and what others would do in my situation.

 

[kanewolf]

That was my opinion. But I AM paranoid. I would probably buy an new disk and install and scrap the old one.

 

[cosmoji]

you can do a batch install of steam games. you can select more than one in your library with shift or ctrl until you have all you want and then have them all install sequentially without you needing to start each after the last finishes. that way you can set it and run it overnight.