Question About Possible Malware/Spyware Infection

[Guest]

Hello, I have long been wondering how is it possible to be completely certain that your computer has absolutely no malware/spyware/adware/trojan infecting it?

I have (stupidly) used a secondary software installed along a torrent (whose main program worked without any issue), which, after I clicked it (.exe), suddenly made my screen go black for 1 second, then it opened back at a very low resolution (even lower than safe-mode). The program was open, but it didn't seem to be installing any virus. I right-clicked it and closed the program, which made my screen go back to the original resolution.

1. I then made a full system scan with Avast (found no issue)
2. I used HitmanPro, which actually found 2 malware files, and 1 trojan. It deleted them
3. I then used both Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Malwarebytes AdwCleaner (didn't found any specific virus file)
4. I finally used Spybot Search & Destroy, which said my device was clean.

I have restarted the PC after each scan with each of those programs.

My questions are:
1. Can I be safe that my PC is clean from any malware right now?
2. How is it possible to be -completely- safe malware doesn't exist?
3. Are those 4 programs (without Avast) good at fully detecting it?

Thanks!

 

[USAFRet]

Create a bootable AV scanner. Most of the major AV/malware applications have that option.
Boot from that and run. This prevents any virus from actually "running".

Of course, after a known infection, the only real way to know is to go nuclear, with a full wipe and reinstall.

 

[Guest]

Create a bootable AV scanner. Most of the major AV/malware applications have that option.
Boot from that and run. This prevents any virus from actually "running".

Of course, after a known infection, the only real way to know is to go nuclear, with a full wipe and reinstall.

All right, I'll use it from now on.

Is it possible to be infected with spyware, but to have no "strange" occurances on your computer? (i.e. random pop-up ads, messages, system errors, slowdown etc.). I have never experienced anything abnormal regarding those, is it possible to still have spyware?

Also, does the fact that my screen went blank for 1 sec, then it came back to a very low resolution, then it fixed itself after closing the software I mentioned, mean it was malware?

Thank you for the answer anyway.

 

[USAFRet]

Create a bootable AV scanner. Most of the major AV/malware applications have that option.
Boot from that and run. This prevents any virus from actually "running".

Of course, after a known infection, the only real way to know is to go nuclear, with a full wipe and reinstall.

All right, I'll use it from now on.

Is it possible to be infected with spyware, but to have no "strange" occurances on your computer? (i.e. random pop-up ads, messages, system errors, slowdown etc.). I have never experienced anything abnormal regarding those, is it possible to still have spyware?

Also, does the fact that my screen went blank for 1 sec, then it came back to a very low resolution, then it fixed itself after closing the software I mentioned, mean it was malware?

Thank you for the answer anyway.

Some malware is smart enough to only use your system when it is mostly idle. Some of the mining things, for instance.
You may not notice any 'slowdown', because you're not using those resources at that moment.

And a keylogger might not show any outward signs...just a microburst later of all your recent keystrokes.

 

[Guest]

Create a bootable AV scanner. Most of the major AV/malware applications have that option.
Boot from that and run. This prevents any virus from actually "running".

Of course, after a known infection, the only real way to know is to go nuclear, with a full wipe and reinstall.

All right, I'll use it from now on.

Is it possible to be infected with spyware, but to have no "strange" occurances on your computer? (i.e. random pop-up ads, messages, system errors, slowdown etc.). I have never experienced anything abnormal regarding those, is it possible to still have spyware?

Also, does the fact that my screen went blank for 1 sec, then it came back to a very low resolution, then it fixed itself after closing the software I mentioned, mean it was malware?

Thank you for the answer anyway.

Some malware is smart enough to only use your system when it is mostly idle. Some of the mining things, for instance.
You may not notice any 'slowdown', because you're not using those resources at that moment.

And a keylogger might not show any outward signs...just a microburst later of all your recent keystrokes.

I understand, thank you. I have one more question: are those 4 programs (Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, Malwarebytes AdwCleaner, HitmanPro, Spybot), to your knowledge, besides a mainstream antivirus, effective at destroying spyware/malware/trojans?

 

[USAFRet]

I understand, thank you. I have one more question: are those 4 programs (Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, Malwarebytes AdwCleaner, HitmanPro, Spybot), to your knowledge, besides a mainstream antivirus, effective at destroying spyware/malware/trojans?

Generally, yes.
Of course, the best one is that squishy stuff between your ears.

 

[Guest]

I understand, thank you. I have one more question: are those 4 programs (Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, Malwarebytes AdwCleaner, HitmanPro, Spybot), to your knowledge, besides a mainstream antivirus, effective at destroying spyware/malware/trojans?

Generally, yes.
Of course, the best one is that squishy stuff between your ears.

Yes, haha. Thanks for the help.

 

[Avast-Team]

Hi lorris, since you mentioned Avast I wanted to pop in here It's completely up to you which programs you choose to use, just remember that running two "active scanners" at once, due to the way antivirus/anti-malware works, can cause system problems and issues. Some folks choose to use Avast as their main, active protection and a secondary scanner such as Malwarebytes.

This way, you can continue using an additional on-demand scanner while getting Avast's active protection and scans (remember there's a lot going on under the hood in addition to just detecting known viruses, see Behavior Shield, CyberCapture, our threat detection AI, etc.)

You can also continue to use the other features of Avast with another active scanner if you wish with Passive Mode. Remember this disables active protection, however.

Hope this helps!