Solved 'Hacked' PC Laptop 101

Greetings,

My Dad's PC I'm told was 'hacked' and he has to get a new one. Simply that statement prompted a 'Huh?' from me and that's most of the info I currently have, so don't ask a lot of questions because I neither have access to the laptop or nor trust my Dad's complete lack of tech skills.

So this is really REALLY basic 'Hacked' 101 questions from me to y'all.

Presuming he can no longer boot up or login into his PC, it was my understanding that you could simply boot up a special way, wipe and reset the drive, and start all over. In other words: you don't need a new laptop.

Is that true in 99% of such situations? Or is there a chance he was really hacked and that laptop is now useless? Or is this the scenario where you open up the back, pull and replace the drive, and proceed?

By the way, is there a common way to bootup the unit, run a virus program, perhaps remove whatever it is that's affecting it, and then keep the PC desktop that same way it was before this event? Or is that risky because the virus or 'hack' may remain anyways?

This laptop is only a few years old and not junk to be abandoned by any means. He was probably running Windows 10.

I don't see a reason why your father cannot clean installing Windows like you said without more information giving you advice for dealing with this pointless.

Maybe he simply wants a new computer and this is a good excuse?

If the computer cannot be turned on, it does not necessarily mean that it has been hacked, which hard disk has an SSD or HDD is not the same, if it is (I assume) the HDD must have a bed sector when starting the laptop or an SSD that has a lot of writing or erasing on it, so it stopped working a lot unknown on your laptop.

FreeBooter said:

I don't see a reason why your father cannot clean installing Windows like you said without more information giving you advice for dealing with this pointless.

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Hey Freebooter,

I know y'all love your info. I do too when troubleshooting. But that question you just answered I wasn't certain of. You could have said, "Sounds like that PC is compromised and so, yeah, he needs a new one."

I'm just trying to stop the unnecessary purchase of a new PC which my gut tells me should be stopped.

TraderGary said:

Maybe he simply wants a new computer and this is a good excuse?

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Nah. He's one of those people that would hold onto something forever because it's familiar. Honestly it's not even old yet.

Take said PC to a local computer shop. It sounds to me that you probably are not nerdy enough to fix it. No offense.

Where do you live?

You could ask your father if he will purchase a new computer every time he got hacked.

Based on the lack of technical skills I doubt he's qualified to say the system has been compromised. In any event if it is a wipe and reinstall should, in most cases, clear out anything bad save for state sponsored attacks which are highly unlikely to target a common user

The Pool Man said:

This laptop is only a few years old and not junk to be abandoned by any means. He was probably running Windows 10.

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you can not take it from him to clean ? if the distance is high he can ship it to you to clean

Taking into account all the given details - i take it he end-up on some suspicious site and end-up with some malware on PC?! Or was he targeted?!

Either way - a clean install can solve the OS issue (you could also add a firewall on top) - maybe even a BIOS update (in case it's among those labeled as vulnerable). You can even take it a step further - and install some Linux Distribution (harder to get infected - even for older people who ignore all the warnings on windows).

Hey All. Thanks for your responses.

He is an older man that's not tech savvy and I just learned from a relation he's 'that' guy that gets the 'Call Microsoft -- your PC has been compromised!' and can write checks. So he's paying those Indian scam support companies to compromise his PCs. (And here I thought that Glitter Bomb guy on YouTube had taken them out. lol)

kelper said:

Take said PC to a local computer shop. It sounds to me that you probably are not nerdy enough to fix it. No offense.

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That actually is a little offensive. Because I've used Macs and PCs for decades and never go to those shops. I'm the prevention guy -- which is why when something comes up like this that I've never experienced -- I have to double-check with those who deal with this all the time.

It seems I guessed right in my initial post, by the way.

neves said:

Taking into account all the given details - i take it he end-up on some suspicious site and end-up with some malware on PC?! Or was he targeted?!

Either way - a clean install can solve the OS issue (you could also add a firewall on top) - maybe even a BIOS update (in case it's among those labeled as vulnerable). You can even take it a step further - and install some Linux Distribution (harder to get infected - even for older people who ignore all the warnings on windows).

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Great advice, thanks. My relation just informed me he's probably no longer capable of running any OS. Which is really sad for me because he knows what computers/tablets can do but is mentally past being able to have them work in his favor.

FreeBooter said:

You could ask your father if he will purchase a new computer every time he got hacked.

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I found out that's exactly what's been happening. He's not so transparent.

That computer can be checked & cleaned ! Then install a new OS but sounds like he want's a new computer !

The Pool Man said:

That actually is a little offensive. Because I've used Macs and PCs for decades and never go to those shops. I'm the prevention guy -- which is why when something comes up like this that I've never experienced -- I have to double-check with those who deal with this all the time.

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That's not the impression I got from post #1. Especially as you asked for a 101. I made a suggestion in good faith.

flashh4 said:

That computer can be checked & cleaned ! Then install a new OS but sounds like he want's a new computer

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You know how there's those call centers that pretend to be Microsoft and then they install hacking crap on the PC? That's what he fell for. So my relations got him a Chromebook to avoid this problem.

I've gotten the impression that he has two 'compromised' laptops lying around that aren't even old. So I'm thinking I'd clean, restore them, and give them to needy people who could use them.

My online research has indicated a quick way to fix these laptops is install Linux on them because Linux cleans the entire disk. Then, once you deal with the boot loader, I could put Windows back on each unit.

Chromebook's are among the most secure type of computers that you can buy. Based on the Linux operating system, the Chrome OS features sandboxing, automatic updates, verified booting, data encryption and full OS recovery, all of which should keep your computer running smoothly.
But with that said they can become corrupted unless the operator is careful of what you download & what you click on ! Anyway that is my experience in doing HJT logs & computer cleaning of Malware !!

Chromebooks seem to have quite short lives after which the OS gets no updates. Sounds like Apple, so check that OS is current when buying.