How Do I Make Sure Malware is Gone?

[@askleonotenboom]

✅ Watch next ▶ How Do I Remove Malware from Windows 10 or 11? ▶ kzbin.info/www/bejne/eonVgYOolpKseLc

[@emmapeel4259]

But what if the malware was there at the time of your backup and It just didn't manifest itself yet. How can you know for certain that your backup is not infected??

[@askleonotenboom]

@emmapeel4259 You cannot. In fact, there's no way to know that the machine you just purchased with a pristine OS isn't also malware infested. There are no absolutes. Never. All you can do is stack the deck in your favor with regular backups, and good behavior.

[@Jojo-CY]

As a former IT consultant ... i fully agree with the statements made in this video. Also, about BIOS compromise....updating the BIOS firmware should resolve that issue. Good luck

[@0x8badbeef]

Starting from scratch is not a big deal ever since Windows 10. I've also found reinstalling apps from scratch gets me a newer version than the updates have provided. Since Windows 10 the reset feature has been handy. Having a checklist is handy with links, cut-and-paste, etc. The only thing I wish Windows has is a command line equivalent for all the settings so a batch file can be used.

[@CryingCroc.]

Wish more people would do periodic "system" (aka image) backup's. Set up is easy, and periodic backing up is even easier. And when folks ever get into a bind for whatever reason (viruses or just too much monkeying around) - it's trivially easy to restore 'everything' (the entire system - OS, apps, etc.) to exactly what it was at the date of that backup!

[@batman51]

You suggest restoring from a backup prior to you "noticing" the malware. What if it has a delayed start up in it, e.g. it will sit on your machine for a month before starting its work, and therefore is sitting in your backup. I assume this is possible?

[@hangman0004]

If you want to avoid re-installation of Windows try this method. The best way to scan for malware and virus infections is to boot the computer to a live dvd or usb and scan from the live system. That will also remove potential hidden malware in the registry.

[@imstrabo]

What I prefer do when virus/malware scanning, is to remove the drive from the system then attach it to a clean(hopefully) system as additional drive rather than a boot drive. Then I run the scans. I have picked off viruses and malware this way that were missed previously. More time and hassle but worth it.

[@UP_NS]

Would be nice to see a suggestion of preferred backup software.

[@stanleykubrick8786]

Another outstanding video. TY Leo!

[@iceManSwag]

Pegasus virus tracker was discovered by Kaspersky on the iPhone & after that they got banned in USA... You can run specific utilities created by Kaspersky, Dr.Web etc too remove the specific malware/virus/ransomware you got on the system without even installing there software. What about Microsoft Windows telemetry isn't that a threat?! I get rid of that too including Edge, Defender I use 3rd party software that does the job better.

[@tinetannies4637]

Short answer is remove your data, wipe your drive, reinstall official software. Yea it's a pain but less of a pain than having your data stolen.

[@bobmcguirk7272]

Thnaks, Leo!

[@tortoisewhisperer1580]

would performing a 'system restore' on windows be sufficient enough to cover guarantee #1 or would you recommend a different procedure / method ??

[@askleonotenboom]

No. System restore is kinda pointless in this scenario. The processes I recommend are in the video.

[@mark-sk3do]

A lot of motherboards come with a secondary/backup bios, so even then all may not be lost

[@gabay1953]

Maybe you can make a video with the backup options. Because I'm ignorant about it. Thanks.🙏

[@soundNTechdude2022]

Bitlocker was created to cut back on BIOS/UEFI malware, infections, correct?

[@WavzonRox39]

If reinstalling OS, do i need to run bitraser to wipe the drive completely?

[@askleonotenboom]

Not really. I don't think wiping free space is absolutely needed, but if you want to do it you can use the Windows setup program to do it on install. No need for 3rd party software.

[@glennclever3640]

First like your info, This is a bit off the topic but maybe you can post a video I probably won't like to hear, but may be good info for others. Here goes - I backup everyday to two external hard disk drives, I do redundancy on 2 - 4 tb HDD drives. Recently on eBay a store was listing cheap 4 tb HDD drives for $24 each so I figured clearing shelves maybe for SSDs. so I purchased 2 of them, WRONG. What I got was 2 SSD's, I had tried a 2 tb SSD at a cost of I think was $159 a while back, nothing but problems, I write to it first time ok, second time and as soon as I did everything from the previous backup would disappear, (NOTE mostly my daily backups are for DATA files while whole machine is once weekly) I use a nice program called Free File Sync works great on my 2 - 4 tb HDD's for the DATA files. Compares files and updates changed files, I use Acronis for Whole Machine backups weekly. All this is on my 2 - 4tb HDD's Free File Sync and Acronis backups. So to get to the point, I figured either I got a bad SSD earlier or maybe the newer one are improved. Guess what second backup everything for the day before gone, if it wasn't part of the changed files the SSD's showed no signs of the previous backups Free Files Sync or Acronis. I was rather cautious and kept using the 2 - 4tb HDDs after as a trial run backing up to the SSDs and all was there on the HDD drives. Ran the same script in both scenarios. I am not sold on SSD's at this point. Any words of wisdom on the subject. Thanks, after losing everything once I am a backup fanatic.

[@guilherme5094]

There was a time when my friends and I would always go straight to option #2!

[@emmapeel4259]

I'm new to computers and I feel like option 2 reinstalling from scratch would be the only option for me to sleep peacefully at night. Maybe the malware was there at the time of backup but you just didn't realize it.

[@7lllll]

you can't be sure it's not gone, but neither can you be sure you're not infected without knowing. i don't think it makes any difference that you were once detectably infected

[@LarcR]

Even restoring from a backup isn't necessarily guaranteed to rid your PC of a virus. You may know the virus didn't manifest itself before the backup was made, but how do you know it wasn't there waiting for the right time?

[@emmapeel4259]

I like your comment. It's exactly what I was thinking. I'm computer illiterate and was wondering if you might have any suggestions of what to do if you can never realy be sure if your backup is malware free.

[@thomasglendenning3486]

Hey Leo, you are sure doing a lot more videos than before, what's the deal?

[@askleonotenboom]

People like videos. Though my pace in this channel has been pretty consistent for several years now.

[@glasslinger]

The "earlier disk clone" method of backup will eliminate ALL invasions, including BIOS and UFEI corruption.

[@WavzonRox39]

But what about the EEPROM ? Disk wipe doesn't touch it i think.

[@glasslinger]

@@WavzonRox39 I guess I am old school. The systems I have worked on require a jumper change (physical access) to change the rom to write mode. I guess from your question there are systems now that can be remotely changed. Quite risky I would think!

[@askleonotenboom]

Correct. The chip holding the UEFI or BIOS on the motherboard is not included in a backup image. Fortunately it's EXTREMELY rare that these are infected. I advise not worrying about it beyond simply keeping all malware off your machine to begin with.

[@WavzonRox39]

@@askleonotenboom Thank you Leo! Always my first and best source for direction!

[@meredithweston46399]

That thumbnail... is this channel using crappy AI slop images too? Hate to see creators throwing other creators under the bus like that.