Hitman PRO detected malware and removed it - Should I be safe or reinstall windows? Im paranoid

[Deleted member 1267329]

I ran malwarebytes afterwards to make sure the malware was removed and it was. However, I´m not being paranoid of the leftovers of the malware and need to decide whether I should reinstall my windows which takes hell of a long time and backup my files.. or just feel safe now when I cant detect any malware. Help me please.

 

[Barty1884]

A clean install shouldn't take overly long - although backing up your files can. That's why it's extremely important to have a scheduled backup routine in place. A clean install 'looks' much smoother when your files are already backed up.

Saying that, if a combination of Hitman Pro and Malwarebytes haven't found anything in subsequent scans, chances are, you're in the clear.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Hitman is pretty thorough , you should be fine.

You can also run HerdProtect FREE it uses 68 different scanning engines.

 

[Deleted member 1267329]

So the hitman PRO found malware on my pc, removed it, and now I scanned both with hitman Pro and malwarebytes and they could not fint any malwares. Someone once told me that if you had malware infection, there is a good chance its still having some remaining malware files in your pc. Is that true? How can I be sure that Im safe now without reinstalling windows 10? Takes alot of time to do it...

 

[mdd1963]

Sometimes Hitman Pro also identifies what are merely tracking cookies, which are harmless, and, even MBAM sometimes finds several harmless PUPs as well....; in short, if both are giving the all clear, you're 99.99% in the clear....

I'd not be reformatting on those odds, ....unless thought a hacker had access to my system, and I had 1 million in bitcoins to protect somewhere...

 

[Deleted member 1267329]

Sometimes Hitman Pro also identifies what are merely tracking cookies, which are harmless, and, even MBAM sometimes finds several harmless PUPs as well....; in short, if both are giving the all clear, you're 99.99% in the clear....

I'd not be reformatting on those odds, ....unless thought a hacker had access to my system, and I had 1 million in bitcoins to protect somewhere...

This was malware for sure. Tracking cookies are normal, hitman pro finds the on daily basis, but this time it was malware.

 

[mdd1963]

If you don't trust the removal process, or subsequent search/detection processes, then feel free to delete partition(s), and reinstall/reload everything, of course...

(A total system image from Clonezilla, Macrium Reflect, Acronis True Image, AOMEI Backupper,,etc.) taken right at the time you have all software installed would drastically shorten the time this might take in the future, barring enjoying the rather time consuming process, of course...)

 

[JoshRoss]

Paranoid? Perfect, welcome to the club. So if you are actually that worried you can do the following:

Do a full scan with your antivirus software.

Scan your PC with JRT, Adwcleaner, and Malwarebytes

Repeat the scans in safe mode.

If everything comes out clean, there is nothing for you to worry about it.

To add to Mdd's answer, you can use some form of a back up that you can simply reflash your Windows on and be done with it. Recovery point or just reset your PC to default configuration every time.

 

[Deleted member 1267329]

Paranoid? Perfect, welcome to the club. So if you are actually that worried you can do the following:

Do a full scan with your antivirus software.

Scan your PC with JRT, Adwcleaner, and Malwarebytes

Repeat the scans in safe mode.

If everything comes out clean, there is nothing for you to worry about it.

To add to Mdd's answer, you can use some form of a back up that you can simply reflash your Windows on and be done with it. Recovery point or just reset your PC to default configuration every time.

how do I scan in safe mode and why is it different from normal scan? Thanks

 

[JoshRoss]

You boot into Windows "Safe mode with network" <-- Simple google search will tell you how to do it. And you boot into a completely clean Windows version without any launched applications, just the essentials. Meaning, that potential malware and anything related to it will not be executed.

 

[Deleted member 1267329]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from TheRammo : "Is my pc hacked? Rootkit ? Please help me. Picture of the malware threats below."

Long story short:
I ran Hitman PRO and scanned my system daily as usual, finding alot of tracking cookies which isnt something to be worried about but 2 days ago I scanned and the hitman PRO found malware. Ofcourse it removed it, and I tried rescanning with malwarebytes which couldnt find any remnants. I was then told to re-scan in safe mode which I just did, and in the first scan I got a message that MBAE64.SYS is suspicious. This got me paranoid and I tried to save the log but hitman pro stopped responding and I had to restart pc. Then rescanned the system again using Hitman PRO, which then suprisingly said nothing was found. I ran windows defender and it found nothing either. Below I have the imgur link of 3 pictures from the log from hitman PRO and I hope you guys can tell me what is going on. Please help me.

SCREENSHOTS: http/imgur.com/a/kcre5

 

[rgd1101]

Hacked? probably what you torrent.

 

[Deleted member 1267329]

Hacked? probably what you torrent.

Sorry what?

 

[Deleted member 1267329]

anyone?

 

[mdd1963]

Many folks get their malware quite quickly looking for and downloading 'free video players/converters' , 'free games', 'free patches' and of course, 'free movies'....often via torrent sites that seem to specialize in such 'material'...

Odds are very much in favor of getting infected trusting any downloads from such sites....

 

[JoshRoss]

Just like MDD said, if you are going about searching for free product version in illegal ways, you are bound to get infected. I posted some steps above for removal. You can try those. Additionally, these are an alternative:

1. Use RKill to kill malicious processes
2. Check your installed programs and see if there isn't anything suspicious that was installed lately (If there is, simply remove them).
3. Install any popular antivirus and do a quick scan (Majority of the providers do have free versions of their software). Or just use Windows Defender. It works really well in most cases.
4. Install and scan your PC with Malwarebytes and Hitman Pro to clean most adware.

 

[mdd1963]

Use CCleaner (portable does great without needing install; I don't even both with 'analyze' stage anymore, proceeding straight to 'clean' to save 2 minutes) to clean out your assorted temp files/junk before even bothering with a malware scan...

 

[Deleted member 1267329]

the imgur link I posted showing the screenshot of the malware found on my pc.. is that serious malware?

 

[JoshRoss]

If the anti-virus says it might be a rootkit or has qualities of it, it makes it a very serious malware. Truth be told, it is impossible to tell the actual danger level from just quarantined files, would need to investigate what the virus does. I would strongly recommend doing either a thorough malware check up (You can find some steps above), or just do a clean Windows reinstall, would probably save you a lot more time and effort.

 

[mdd1963]

torrents = virtually begging for whatever infections come in....

torrents = bad