[SOLVED] ACER Aspire E5-575 Hacked

[zathazar]

I'm trying to fix a an Acer Laptop (an ACER Aspire E5-575, Model No.: M16Q2) that got hacked a few months back.

Long story short, a co-worker fell prey to a Amazon scam and handed control of the device to the hacker.
Not sure exactly what he did, but I don't know if the hacker left something behind.

I've never had this problem before, but how do I do a factory reset (or whatever method) to ensure the laptop isn't still compromised?

 

[rgd1101]

fresh os install

 

[Krotow]

Completely wipe out hard drive(s) in this laptop from some system rescue drive at first. Then do fresh operating system install.

Probably first that you can use, is Hiren's BootCD PE. Download it from not hacked computer and make bootable USB stick with Rufus from it. In your laptop boot from this USB drive, run AOMEI Partition Assistant and permanently wipe laptop's hard drive. Then you can do clean OS install.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Or just boot from a windows 10 installation USB and do a custom install and delete all the partitions and let it format and install. There is no need for third-party junk software anywhere in this trail

 

[USAFRet]

Full wipe and reinstall. No need to do any 'delete' beforehand, that can happen during the install process.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[USAFRet]

In addition....from a whole different known clean system, reset ALL passwords to any websites.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

And always use two factor authentication if you can on all the sites/services you deal with

 

[Aasiwat]

could replacing the HDD or SDD entirely with a fresh, new one and doing a reset on the MOBO alleviate this problem? I feel like if the virus is not coinciding with the storage and hasn't affected in of the primary functions of the board then I feel like this advice should be a 100% go. Try my advice now if you wish, Ive never had experience with this but from what you have said I feel like this is the most viable solution.

 

[USAFRet]

could replacing the HDD or SDD entirely with a fresh, new one and doing a reset on the MOBO alleviate this problem? I feel like if the virus is not coinciding with the storage and hasn't affected in of the primary functions of the board then I feel like this advice should be a 100% go. Try my advice now if you wish, Ive never had experience with this but from what you have said I feel like this is the most viable solution.

"doing a reset" = a full OS install.
No need for a whole new physical storage device.

 

[Aasiwat]

"doing a reset" = a full OS install.
No need for a whole new physical storage device.

Are you forgetting a hacker had full control of his computer INCLUDING his HDD? Who knows what type of corruption or things are missing from that HDD. It is in OPS best interest to junk the old HDD and preferably go with an SSD something much more faster

 

[rgd1101]

Are you forgetting a hacker had full control of his computer INCLUDING his HDD? Who knows what type of corruption or things are missing from that HDD. It is in OPS best interest to junk the old HDD and preferably go with an SSD something much more faster

What exact are these type of corruption or things are missing?

 

[USAFRet]

Are you forgetting a hacker had full control of his computer INCLUDING his HDD? Who knows what type of corruption or things are missing from that HDD. It is in OPS best interest to junk the old HDD and preferably go with an SSD something much more faster

No, I am not forgetting that.

Tell us what malware functionality will persist after deleting ALL partitions on it. Or diskpart and the clean command.