Hello,
So this may sound a bit odd, but I don't actually know if my computer is infected with any malware. I'm attempting to check it as a safety precaution. I haven't seen anything to indicated that there is malware on my computer, however, I spent this summer doing an internship in China with a U.S. business. Afterwards I was told that I should basically throw out all of my electronic devices, because I should assume they were infected with some kind of corporate or espionage malware. Since I'm a student, this really isn't feasible. Taking my electronic devices to a professional cleaner is also probably outside my price range. At the same time, I can't keep using an infected machine.
So, I figured I would at least try and do this on my own, particularly since I haven't seen anything to indicate malware on my machine. First, I cleaned up my machine by deleting any old files/programs I wasn't using. I then followed the instructions in http://malwaretips.com/blogs/malware-removal-guide-for-windows/. I ran Kaspersky TDSSKiller, RKill, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free, HitmanPro, AdwCleaner, RogueKiller, and Emsisoft Anti-Malware. After running each scan I deleted any suspect files. I've since rerun the scans until they each came up clean. There were a few suspect PUPs and such, but nothing that was too concerning (I think).
I've since run and included the FRST scan. Can you take a look an let me know if you see anything suspicious?
And then, do you have any general advice on these questions/or my problem in general:
1. Would regular anti-malware measures take care of what (if I was targeted) is very sophisticated Chinese malware?
2. Would a professional cleaning do anything differently than what I've already done? And what the forum helpers will suggest? That's a bit outside my price range, but if it's something that will make a huge difference, it may be worth it.
3. Does anyone have any advice on phones/tablets? I took my android phone and my ipad 2 with me, so they may both also be infected. I did a factory reset on both. Would that fix the problem? Is there a way to scan either device?
4. I also had a USB and an external hard drive with me. I've formatted both of them, but I did so from my possibly infected computer. (I formatted them and then immediately unplugged them.) Is there any way to check if they're actually formatted or clean? The last thing I want to do is plug them into a clean computer if there's a chance something might still be on one of them.
I realize this all sounds quite paranoid, but my supervisor honestly recommended I just throw out my laptop, ipad, and phone after the internship because of malware/espionage fears. If I'd known it would be this much hassle, I definitely wouldn't have taken any electronics with me!
Thank you!
So this may sound a bit odd, but I don't actually know if my computer is infected with any malware. I'm attempting to check it as a safety precaution. I haven't seen anything to indicated that there is malware on my computer, however, I spent this summer doing an internship in China with a U.S. business. Afterwards I was told that I should basically throw out all of my electronic devices, because I should assume they were infected with some kind of corporate or espionage malware. Since I'm a student, this really isn't feasible. Taking my electronic devices to a professional cleaner is also probably outside my price range. At the same time, I can't keep using an infected machine.
So, I figured I would at least try and do this on my own, particularly since I haven't seen anything to indicate malware on my machine. First, I cleaned up my machine by deleting any old files/programs I wasn't using. I then followed the instructions in http://malwaretips.com/blogs/malware-removal-guide-for-windows/. I ran Kaspersky TDSSKiller, RKill, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free, HitmanPro, AdwCleaner, RogueKiller, and Emsisoft Anti-Malware. After running each scan I deleted any suspect files. I've since rerun the scans until they each came up clean. There were a few suspect PUPs and such, but nothing that was too concerning (I think).
I've since run and included the FRST scan. Can you take a look an let me know if you see anything suspicious?
And then, do you have any general advice on these questions/or my problem in general:
1. Would regular anti-malware measures take care of what (if I was targeted) is very sophisticated Chinese malware?
2. Would a professional cleaning do anything differently than what I've already done? And what the forum helpers will suggest? That's a bit outside my price range, but if it's something that will make a huge difference, it may be worth it.
3. Does anyone have any advice on phones/tablets? I took my android phone and my ipad 2 with me, so they may both also be infected. I did a factory reset on both. Would that fix the problem? Is there a way to scan either device?
4. I also had a USB and an external hard drive with me. I've formatted both of them, but I did so from my possibly infected computer. (I formatted them and then immediately unplugged them.) Is there any way to check if they're actually formatted or clean? The last thing I want to do is plug them into a clean computer if there's a chance something might still be on one of them.
I realize this all sounds quite paranoid, but my supervisor honestly recommended I just throw out my laptop, ipad, and phone after the internship because of malware/espionage fears. If I'd known it would be this much hassle, I definitely wouldn't have taken any electronics with me!
Thank you!
