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How to Recover Your PC After a Malware Infection
Follow all the steps below in order to get rid of malware
10 min. read
Updated onApril 3, 2024
updated onApril 3, 2024
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Malware infections can be a serious problem, especially if malware spreads through your Windows 10 PC. There are many types of malware; while some are just annoying, others can be rather dangerous.
If your PC is infected, today we’re going to show you a few tips to recover your PC after a malware infection, as well as thebest data recovery softwarethat you can use.
How do I removemalwarefrom myWindows 10PC? The easiest solution is throughSafe Mode. Usually,malwarecan end up on your PC from your browser or some downloaded files.
If that doesn’t work, use a live antivirus rescue disk to disable suspicious startup items.
For more information on how to do that, check the complete guide below.
How can I delete malware from my Windows 10 PC for good?
1. Enter Safe Mode
If you have malware issues, you might be able to solve them simply by enteringSafe Mode. This mode starts with only basic services and applications, so by enteringSafe Modeyou can prevent themalwarefrom running.
If you can’t enterWindows 10at all, you can enterSafe Modesimply by restarting your PC during the boot sequence. WhileWindows 10boots, simply press the restart button on your PC.
Repeat this process several times until theAutomatic Repairstarts. After that, simply follow the steps above to enterSafe Mode.
After you enterSafe Mode, run your antivirus tool and try to delete the malicious files. In some cases you might even have to locate the file and delete it manually.
If you decide to do that, be sure to hold Shift to permanently delete the file from your computer.
2. Delete temporary files
Users are suggesting toremove temporary filesif you wish to removemalwarefrom your PC.Malwaresometimes hides itself in Temporary files folder and in order to remove it, it’s recommended to delete temporary files.
This is rather simple, and you can do it simply byusing Disk Cleanup tool.
Keep in mind that removing temporary files doesn’t always fix the malware problems, but it won’t hurt you to try it.
3. Scan your PC with an antivirus tool
If you wonder how to remove a virus from your PC, you first need to perform a detailed scan withyour antivirus software.
Depending on the partition size and your search options, the scanning process can take a while, so you’ll need to be patient.
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When it comes to sensitive data, passwords, online payments, webcams, and smart home devices, all of these are related to your privacy. This antivirus does a great job securing them.
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4. Check your web browser
Sometimes,malwarewill hijack your browser and open a certain page instead of your start page. In addition, yourdefault search enginemight be changed as well.
If this happens, you need to open your browser settings and restore them to default.
If your default search engine isn’t affected, check the startup pages. To do that, open the Settings tab and follow these steps:
Malwarecan also disguise itself as abrowser extension, so it’s recommended that you remove all unknown or suspicious extensions. To do that, follow these simple steps:
If the issue still persists, you might want to try resetting your browser to default settings. By resetting your browser, you’ll remove all installed extensions and revert all settings to default. To do that, follow these steps:
If you want to make this process faster, simply navigate to the following address in Chrome and you will see the reset confirmation dialog:chrome://settings/resetProfileSettings
After resetting your browser, all settings and extensions will be removed, and hopefully, themalwarethat infected your browser will be removed as well.
In our example, we showed you how to fixmalware problems with Google Chrome, but if you use any other third-party browser, the process should be similar.
Prevent other browser malware like thewaisheph adwareusing one of our topChrome antivirus extensions.
5. Use a live antivirus rescue disk
If your computer can’t work properly or if youcan’t boot to Windows 10, you might want to consider using a live antivirus rescue disk.
Many antivirus companies offer rescue disks for free, so you need to download one and burn it to a CD or create a bootableUSB flash driveand use it to boot your PC from it.
Companies such as Kaspersky, Bitdefender, and Avira offer antivirus rescue disks, so you can download and use any of these or any other rescue disk that you want.
After booting the PC from the antivirus rescue disk, follow the instructions on the screen to scan and remove malicious files.
If you can’t access your PC and download an antivirus rescue disk, we suggest you download it using another available PC.
6. Disable suspicious startup items
Sometimes, malware disguises itself as a desktop application, and it will start automatically with your PC. To fix this problem, first, you need to disable the malware from automatically starting with your PC.
We also recommend that you uninstall any suspicious applications from your PC. As we already mentioned,malwarecan sometimes disguise itself as a regular application.
So, it’s important that you remove any suspicious applications. To do that, follow these steps:
You can also uninstall applications by using Control Panel. To do that, follow these steps:
7. Use Linux Live CD
If the problem withmalwarestill persists, you might want to download anyversion of Linuxand create a Live CD or bootable USB flash drive.
After you boot from the flash drive you’ll be able to access your system. After doing that, you can use Linux Live CD to navigate through yourhard driveand delete the infected file manually.
8. Reset Windows 10
If the issue still persists, you might have toreset Windows 10. By resetting Windows 10, all your files and applications will be removed, and hopefully, the malware will be removed as well.
Before you perform aWindows 10reset we recommend tocreate a backup of all your important files. If you can’t accessWindows 10at all, you’ll have to use Linux Live CD to back up your important files.
Once your PC is running, be sure to download and install antivirus software and perform a system scan just in case. Before you transfer your backed-up files, be sure to scan them with your antivirus.
In order to prevent these types of problems in the future, be sure to update your antivirus frequently anddownload the latest Windows 10 updates.
Malwareinfection can be a serious problem sometimes.
There are different types ofmalwareand while somemalwaremight change your start page or search engine in your browser, others can cause serious problems.
If you have malware issues, be sure to try all the solutions from this article. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to reach for the comments section below.
More about the topics:antivirus,malware removal
Milan Stanojevic
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Milan has been enthusiastic about technology ever since his childhood days, and this led him to take interest in all PC-related technologies. He’s a PC enthusiast and he spends most of his time learning about computers and technology.
Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s one of the Troubleshooting experts in our worldwide team, specializing in Windows errors & software issues.
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Milan Stanojevic
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s specialized in Windows errors & software issues.
