Trojan On Computer 2, Think I Need Help

This is a long story involving both of my computers, I know I need a different post for each, so this one can be for Computer 2.

After upgrading to Windows 11 in October 2025, I switched both computers from Avast to Windows Defender hoping it was a good idea, and thinking it would make my computer (#2) faster since it struggled with Windows 11 in the beginning. I regularly ran Full Scans weekly, but week before last I skipped.

When I finally full scans in Windows Defender (on Saturday, I think), Computer 2 came back fine, but Computer 1 found a trojan, and put it in quarantine. Since it only discovered this trojan when I was running a scan, and not earlier, I wondered if Windows Defender was the best. I also became worried about computer 2. They are both laptops, and I only use them on my own wifi, so I'm not sure how easy it is for them to share viruses, but a few days before the scan I used a USB stick to transfer a Libre document from Computer 1 with the trojan to Computer 2 without.

So I did everything I could think of (on both computers just in case, so this applies to Computer 2 which we are focusing on in this thread, and when I scanned computer 2 I also had my USB stick plugged in so it would scan as well):

I cleared all my cookies and cache on both computers, emptied the recycle bin, then I ran a Windows smart scan, offline scan, and another full scan. I ran free Malwarebytes, Spybot, Spybot's rootkit scan. Nothing found anything. So I reinstalled Avast like I did before, and ran a smart scan, which showed nothing, and then a full scan.

The avast full scan ran overnight last night. When I checked them earlier today, it seemed like there was some glitch in avast or something, because instead of showing the scan progress, the window was black (on both computers). When I returned to the Scans page, under Full scan it showed it was still going, but at 100%. I gave it a couple more hours. Computer 2 finally finished, and when I went to check the results, there was a trojan found on Computer 2 now as well! It put it in quarantine, but why are these getting through undetected? Is there something else lurking around that I haven't found yet?

Computer 2 is the one I use for all my important things, so I figured it was time to enlist some help. The full Avast scan on Computer 1 is still running, so we'll see how that goes.

FRST logs for computer 2 are attached. I'll start working on a post for computer 1 in a little bit after I give Avast some more time. I just realized that I did not have the USB in question plugged in when I ran FRST, should I have?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

Hi friend. Sure, thanks!

 

Here's a weird update that I'm not sure is relevant: While waiting for a reply, on this computer 2 I went to my email to see if I saw anything suspicious, and see if I could figure out how to scan my emails. There's a new section in Avast that says it uses AI and you can paste in links and it will check it for you. So, to test it all out, I dropped an email link in, and Avast said it thought it was safe.

But then my computer made a strange loud buzzing noise that it had never made before - not the normal working sounds, not a fan's clogged up sound, but really loud strange electrical buzzing that was continuous. I thought maybe Avast was trying to make a bling noise and it freaked out, so I tried to mute my computer and see if it would quit, but I couldn't mute it. Then the task bar started flashing quickly, and my cursor started circling like it was trying to do something. I couldn't close windows, the noise wouldn't stop, the task bar kept flashing, so I turned the computer off, cleaned the vents, and turned it back on. Everything seems fine now.

Reading back over what I typed, I think it sounds insane. I swear I'm not taking anything. I don't know if my computer just freaked out or if it is related to whatever else is going on, but I thought I'd let you know.

 

After my last post, I noticed my computer was trying to update. This always bogs it down so bad its pretty near unusable until it's done. I was going to pull up my task manager now and report that my memory was freed up since the update is complete, by my memory is still between 86% and 89%, so I don't know what to say about that.

Flash player is uninstalled, the Fixlog and zip folder are attached.
I could not find anything like Lenovo App Explorer, and I successfully removed Spybot.

Thanks

 

Sorry, I'm working at this slowly but surely.

When I go to the protection history in Avast I can see what it caught and put in quarantine. I tried to take a screenshot for you, but it won't let me. It calls it "INI:Shortcut-inf [Trj]" the infected file is "C:\Users\Mariah\Desktop\shortcuts\inhalers..." then it cuts it out and I can't read the rest now. There's probably a more limited timeframe because I just installed Avast the day before yesterday.

I do recognize New Yankee, it's a game series I've been testing. rionix maybe the developer, I'm not sure about that.

The fix log is attached and the zip file, and that's as far as I got so far. A different text file appeared that I don't recognize after I ran FRST, called "irybwgflubgwioajh.txt". I'm quite sure I have no idea what this is, and am afraid to open it or attach it for you. Should I do either?

I'll report back once I finish the offline scan. I ran it a couple of days ago, and couldn't figure out how to see the results. Nothing showed up in the history then, but I'll give it a go and see what happens. Thanks!

 

Computer 2 was too slow to get to the offline scan, so I restarted and it's trying to update again. I should get it done soon.

 

Okay, I finished. The offline scan found no threats.

 

I'm glad the text file wasn't anything bad, sorry I freak out so easily.

Here is the log, but it seems it quit because it took too long. Should I try it again?

Are you seeing anything concerning with this computer so far, or can you tell yet?

Thanks!

Fix result of Farbar Recovery Scan Tool (x64) Version: 11-03-2026
Ran by Mariah (11-03-2026 21:11:32) Run:3
Running from C:\Users\Mariah\Desktop
Loaded Profiles: Mariah
Boot Mode: Normal
==============================================

fixlist content:
*****************
Start::
cmd: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
End::
*****************


========= DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth =========


Fixing is terminated due to reaching maximum fixing time of 60 minutes. <==== ATTENTION

 

My computer started being slow, but then it straightened up. I hadn't heard if I should try the fix again, but just in case my slow computer messed it up I went ahead and ran it again, but again it terminated because of how long it took. After that, I restarted, and now Computer 2 is stuck updating again. It's been trying for over an hour as of this post, and it has just a black screen with the normal "Windows is updating, don't turn off your computer" message, but giving no percent.

Both of the computers updated quickly yesterday. Computer 1 has been working fine since, computer 2 has updated each time I restart after that. This morning, after an update, I checked to see if windows thought it was up to date now, and if an update was failing, but it all looked fine and up to date. I don't know why it would be stuck trying to update again, when it thought it was up to date just hours before.

I'm not sure what to do now, or if it is related to whatever else has been going on with this computer, but since the screen thinks I shouldn't turn my computer off, I guess I won't, and we'll see if it figures itself out.

 

Consistent with my usual character, I freaked out prematurely. About 25 minutes after my last post, this computer 2 finished updating and is now working okay so far. I checked the update history for this one and also computer 1, and it looks pretty similar, so I still don't know why computer 2 has to update continually. But as of right now, it's working and thinks it is up to date, so we'll see.

 

Here are the download links:
https://gofile.io/d/J98BQi
https://gofile.io/d/SrshcE

I'm going to run the fix now. Thank you!

 

Here is the fix log, the windows update log is too large to attach. What do you want me to do with it?

Fix result of Farbar Recovery Scan Tool (x64) Version: 12-03-2026
Ran by Mariah (12-03-2026 09:55:27) Run:5
Running from C:\Users\Mariah\Desktop
Loaded Profiles: Mariah
Boot Mode: Normal
==============================================

fixlist content:
*****************
Start::
Powershell: Get-WindowsUpdateLog
End::
*****************


========= Get-WindowsUpdateLog =========


========= End of Powershell: =========


==== End of Fixlog 10:15:58 ====

 

Okay, here's the link.

https://gofile.io/d/POsXKs

How's it looking so far? Do you think a trojan is messing with my memory, or something else is going on? Thanks for your help.

 

I'm waiting for the command prompt to finish. Do you think it is safe to use this computer for things (shopping, email, banking, etc) or do you think I should wait until we figure this out?

 

The restore operation completed successfully.

 

Here are the logs. Thanks!

 

This computer runs generally well. Often it gets slow, but as soon as I get really fed up with it, it starts working fine again. I really thought this computer was done for after updating to windows 11 in october, but eventually it straightened up. It has been slower than usual this week so far, but not too bad. Updates tend to be a headache and can be a day long ordeal where I cannot use the computer until it's done. If I'm really unlucky, an update can cause my computer to be basically unusable for 3 days.

But otherwise (when it isn't trying to update) I like how it works, though if you have a magic spell to make it work better, I'll take it . I worried this week about it being slow because of the trojans found on both computers, but if you don't consider that and take into account that it updated on Tuesday (and Wednesday), it hasn't been too bad.

Are you sure there's no malware? Should I be running any other virus scans?

Attached is the screenshot, let me know if I didn't catch all the information you wanted. The GSmart report follows, and I am still working on the rest. You're amazing, Thank You!

smartctl 6.6 2017-11-05 r4594 [x86_64-w64-mingw32-w10-b26200] (sf-6.6-1)
Copyright (C) 2002-17, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: ST1000LM035-1RK172
Serial Number: WL12YNWR
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 0b9367432
Firmware Version: LCM2
User Capacity: 1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 5400 rpm
Form Factor: 2.5 inches
Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is: ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 3b
SATA Version is: SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Thu Mar 12 19:20:11 2026 CDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
AAM feature is: Unavailable
APM level is: 128 (minimum power consumption without standby)
Rd look-ahead is: Enabled
Write cache is: Enabled
DSN feature is: Unavailable
ATA Security is: Disabled, frozen [SEC2]

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
See vendor-specific Attribute list for marginal Attributes.

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 0) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x71) SMART execute Offline immediate.
No Auto Offline data collection support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
No Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 162) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x3035) SCT Status supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAGS VALUE WORST THRESH FAIL RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate POSR-- 083 064 034 - 209512107
3 Spin_Up_Time PO---- 099 099 000 - 0
4 Start_Stop_Count -O--CK 037 037 020 - 65535
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct PO--CK 100 100 036 - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate POSR-- 089 060 045 - 747323029
9 Power_On_Hours -O--CK 086 086 000 - 12876 (174 27 0)
10 Spin_Retry_Count PO--C- 100 100 097 - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count -O--CK 084 084 020 - 16995
184 End-to-End_Error -O--CK 100 100 099 - 0
187 Reported_Uncorrect -O--CK 100 100 000 - 0
188 Command_Timeout -O--CK 100 001 000 - 253
189 High_Fly_Writes -O-RCK 100 100 000 - 0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel -O---K 061 037 040 Past 39 (Min/Max 18/43 #8)
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate -O--CK 100 100 000 - 49
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count -O--CK 100 100 000 - 19
193 Load_Cycle_Count -O--CK 001 001 000 - 239297
194 Temperature_Celsius -O---K 039 063 000 - 39 (0 4 0 0 0)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count -O--CK 100 100 000 - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector -O--C- 100 100 000 - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable ----C- 100 100 000 - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count -OSRCK 200 200 000 - 0
240 Head_Flying_Hours POSR-- 087 087 030 - 12246 (129 87 0)
254 Free_Fall_Sensor -O--CK 100 100 000 - 0
||||||_ K auto-keep
|||||__ C event count
||||___ R error rate
|||____ S speed/performance
||_____ O updated online
|______ P prefailure warning

General Purpose Log Directory Version 1
SMART Log Directory Version 1 [multi-sector log support]
Address Access R/W Size Description
0x00 GPL,SL R/O 1 Log Directory
0x01 SL R/O 1 Summary SMART error log
0x02 SL R/O 5 Comprehensive SMART error log
0x03 GPL R/O 5 Ext. Comprehensive SMART error log
0x04 GPL,SL R/O 8 Device Statistics log
0x06 SL R/O 1 SMART self-test log
0x07 GPL R/O 1 Extended self-test log
0x09 SL R/W 1 Selective self-test log
0x10 GPL R/O 1 NCQ Command Error log
0x11 GPL R/O 1 SATA Phy Event Counters log
0x21 GPL R/O 1 Write stream error log
0x22 GPL R/O 1 Read stream error log
0x24 GPL R/O 512 Current Device Internal Status Data log
0x30 GPL,SL R/O 9 IDENTIFY DEVICE data log
0x80-0x9f GPL,SL R/W 16 Host vendor specific log
0xa1 GPL,SL VS 24 Device vendor specific log
0xa2 GPL VS 8160 Device vendor specific log
0xa8 GPL,SL VS 136 Device vendor specific log
0xa9 GPL,SL VS 1 Device vendor specific log
0xab GPL VS 1 Device vendor specific log
0xb0 GPL VS 8920 Device vendor specific log
0xbe-0xbf GPL VS 65535 Device vendor specific log
0xc0 GPL,SL VS 1 Device vendor specific log
0xc1 GPL,SL VS 16 Device vendor specific log
0xc2 GPL,SL VS 240 Device vendor specific log
0xc3 GPL,SL VS 8 Device vendor specific log
0xc4 GPL,SL VS 24 Device vendor specific log
0xc9 GPL,SL VS 1 Device vendor specific log
0xca GPL,SL VS 16 Device vendor specific log
0xd3 GPL VS 1920 Device vendor specific log
0xdf GPL,SL VS 1 Device vendor specific log
0xe0 GPL,SL R/W 1 SCT Command/Status
0xe1 GPL,SL R/W 1 SCT Data Transfer

SMART Extended Comprehensive Error Log Version: 1 (5 sectors)
No Errors Logged

SMART Extended Self-test Log Version: 1 (1 sectors)
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Short offline Completed without error 00% 12876 -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

SCT Status Version: 3
SCT Version (vendor specific): 522 (0x020a)
SCT Support Level: 1
Device State: Active (0)
Current Temperature: 39 Celsius
Power Cycle Min/Max Temperature: 18/43 Celsius
Lifetime Min/Max Temperature: 4/63 Celsius
Under/Over Temperature Limit Count: 0/54
Vendor specific:
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

SCT Temperature History Version: 2
Temperature Sampling Period: 1 minute
Temperature Logging Interval: 11 minutes
Min/Max recommended Temperature: 0/ 0 Celsius
Min/Max Temperature Limit: 0/ 0 Celsius
Temperature History Size (Index): 128 (122)

Index Estimated Time Temperature Celsius
123 2026-03-11 19:53 39 ********************
124 2026-03-11 20:04 39 ********************
125 2026-03-11 20:15 39 ********************
126 2026-03-11 20:26 40 *********************
127 2026-03-11 20:37 41 **********************
0 2026-03-11 20:48 40 *********************
1 2026-03-11 20:59 40 *********************
2 2026-03-11 21:10 39 ********************
3 2026-03-11 21:21 40 *********************
4 2026-03-11 21:32 39 ********************
5 2026-03-11 21:43 40 *********************
6 2026-03-11 21:54 40 *********************
7 2026-03-11 22:05 39 ********************
8 2026-03-11 22:16 39 ********************
9 2026-03-11 22:27 39 ********************
10 2026-03-11 22:38 ? -
11 2026-03-11 22:49 21 **
12 2026-03-11 23:00 30 ***********
13 2026-03-11 23:11 33 **************
14 2026-03-11 23:22 34 ***************
15 2026-03-11 23:33 37 ******************
16 2026-03-11 23:44 36 *****************
17 2026-03-11 23:55 39 ********************
18 2026-03-12 00:06 40 *********************
19 2026-03-12 00:17 41 **********************
20 2026-03-12 00:28 42 ***********************
21 2026-03-12 00:39 42 ***********************
22 2026-03-12 00:50 41 **********************
23 2026-03-12 01:01 41 **********************
24 2026-03-12 01:12 40 *********************
25 2026-03-12 01:23 39 ********************
26 2026-03-12 01:34 40 *********************
27 2026-03-12 01:45 39 ********************
28 2026-03-12 01:56 40 *********************
29 2026-03-12 02:07 41 **********************
30 2026-03-12 02:18 41 **********************
31 2026-03-12 02:29 42 ***********************
32 2026-03-12 02:40 43 ************************
33 2026-03-12 02:51 43 ************************
34 2026-03-12 03:02 42 ***********************
... ..( 7 skipped). .. ***********************
42 2026-03-12 04:30 42 ***********************
43 2026-03-12 04:41 41 **********************
44 2026-03-12 04:52 41 **********************
45 2026-03-12 05:03 42 ***********************
46 2026-03-12 05:14 41 **********************
47 2026-03-12 05:25 42 ***********************
48 2026-03-12 05:36 42 ***********************
49 2026-03-12 05:47 43 ************************
... ..( 3 skipped). .. ************************
53 2026-03-12 06:31 43 ************************
54 2026-03-12 06:42 42 ***********************
55 2026-03-12 06:53 40 *********************
56 2026-03-12 07:04 ? -
57 2026-03-12 07:15 28 *********
58 2026-03-12 07:26 37 ******************
59 2026-03-12 07:37 36 *****************
60 2026-03-12 07:48 32 *************
61 2026-03-12 07:59 34 ***************
62 2026-03-12 08:10 36 *****************
63 2026-03-12 08:21 38 *******************
64 2026-03-12 08:32 39 ********************
65 2026-03-12 08:43 38 *******************
66 2026-03-12 08:54 ? -
67 2026-03-12 09:05 25 ******
68 2026-03-12 09:16 ? -
69 2026-03-12 09:27 18 -
70 2026-03-12 09:38 30 ***********
71 2026-03-12 09:49 34 ***************
72 2026-03-12 10:00 37 ******************
73 2026-03-12 10:11 37 ******************
74 2026-03-12 10:22 35 ****************
75 2026-03-12 10:33 34 ***************
76 2026-03-12 10:44 35 ****************
77 2026-03-12 10:55 35 ****************
78 2026-03-12 11:06 30 ***********
79 2026-03-12 11:17 30 ***********
80 2026-03-12 11:28 29 **********
81 2026-03-12 11:39 30 ***********
82 2026-03-12 11:50 30 ***********
83 2026-03-12 12:01 29 **********
84 2026-03-12 12:12 29 **********
85 2026-03-12 12:23 29 **********
86 2026-03-12 12:34 28 *********
87 2026-03-12 12:45 27 ********
88 2026-03-12 12:56 26 *******
89 2026-03-12 13:07 33 **************
90 2026-03-12 13:18 37 ******************
91 2026-03-12 13:29 36 *****************
92 2026-03-12 13:40 34 ***************
93 2026-03-12 13:51 35 ****************
94 2026-03-12 14:02 35 ****************
95 2026-03-12 14:13 33 **************
96 2026-03-12 14:24 33 **************
97 2026-03-12 14:35 34 ***************
98 2026-03-12 14:46 37 ******************
99 2026-03-12 14:57 40 *********************
100 2026-03-12 15:08 41 **********************
101 2026-03-12 15:19 41 **********************
102 2026-03-12 15:30 41 **********************
103 2026-03-12 15:41 42 ***********************
104 2026-03-12 15:52 43 ************************
105 2026-03-12 16:03 43 ************************
106 2026-03-12 16:14 43 ************************
107 2026-03-12 16:25 42 ***********************
108 2026-03-12 16:36 42 ***********************
109 2026-03-12 16:47 41 **********************
110 2026-03-12 16:58 41 **********************
111 2026-03-12 17:09 40 *********************
112 2026-03-12 17:20 37 ******************
113 2026-03-12 17:31 40 *********************
114 2026-03-12 17:42 40 *********************
115 2026-03-12 17:53 39 ********************
116 2026-03-12 18:04 37 ******************
117 2026-03-12 18:15 33 **************
118 2026-03-12 18:26 33 **************
119 2026-03-12 18:37 34 ***************
120 2026-03-12 18:48 35 ****************
121 2026-03-12 18:59 36 *****************
122 2026-03-12 19:10 39 ********************

SCT Error Recovery Control command not supported

Device Statistics (GP Log 0x04)
Page Offset Size Value Flags Description
0x01 ===== = = === == General Statistics (rev 1) ==
0x01 0x008 4 16995 --- Lifetime Power-On Resets
0x01 0x010 4 12876 --- Power-on Hours
0x01 0x018 6 61515080746 --- Logical Sectors Written
0x01 0x020 6 1335282478 --- Number of Write Commands
0x01 0x028 6 104001125907 --- Logical Sectors Read
0x01 0x030 6 2258036430 --- Number of Read Commands
0x01 0x038 6 - --- Date and Time TimeStamp
0x03 ===== = = === == Rotating Media Statistics (rev 1) ==
0x03 0x008 4 7209 --- Spindle Motor Power-on Hours
0x03 0x010 4 3961 --- Head Flying Hours
0x03 0x018 4 239297 --- Head Load Events
0x03 0x020 4 0 --- Number of Reallocated Logical Sectors
0x03 0x028 4 0 --- Read Recovery Attempts
0x03 0x030 4 0 --- Number of Mechanical Start Failures
0x03 0x038 4 0 --- Number of Realloc. Candidate Logical Sectors
0x04 ===== = = === == General Errors Statistics (rev 1) ==
0x04 0x008 4 75 --- Number of Reported Uncorrectable Errors
0x04 0x010 4 253 --- Resets Between Cmd Acceptance and Completion
|||_ C monitored condition met
||__ D supports DSN
|___ N normalized value

SATA Phy Event Counters (GP Log 0x11)
ID Size Value Description
0x000a 2 3 Device-to-host register FISes sent due to a COMRESET
0x0001 2 0 Command failed due to ICRC error
0x0003 2 0 R_ERR response for device-to-host data FIS
0x0004 2 0 R_ERR response for host-to-device data FIS
0x0006 2 0 R_ERR response for device-to-host non-data FIS
0x0007 2 0 R_ERR response for host-to-device non-data FIS

 

Oops, I just realized I didn't attach the screenshot. Here it is with the fix log, now I'm onto the search.

 

The search took a while, here it is. Have a good night!

 

I guess this computer is a little old, but it's still going so I hate to replace it. Should I stop windows updates? Unless it is updating, it works well enough for me, but if it continues to update, will it get worse?

I thought Avast was really slowing down my computer after switching to Windows 11. I just now put it back on a few days ago, and really didn't notice it affecting the performance any. I wonder if it didn't show up though because I have it in passive mode right now so that I could do the Windows offline scan.

Attached is the fix log. The top memory users in firefox were:
Firefox 184MB
GPU 135MB
Extensions 84MB
About Pages 42MB
preloaded new tabs
Data Decoder 24MB

Is there something better to use than Firefox? Microsoft Edge really slows down my computer, even when it was Windows 10 I could hardly get it to work.

Thanks!

 

No, that's okay. It's working well enough for me, as long as you don't think updating windows 11 will break it.

Since we found no malware on this computer, do you think my USB stick is okay? I had it plugged in with all the scans I ran before asking you for help, and I specifically did a targeted Avast scan for my stick alone, and it found nothing. Do we need to do anything to it before we move on the Computer 1?

Is it easy to spread malware from one laptop to another through your home wifi, or would it have only been possible through the USB stick?

 

And I'm not exactly sure what all we've done, but this computer seems to be much faster today. Thank you!

 

I'm not sure, what does each do?

 

To save me from asking stupid questions, I looked each up. It seems like an eset scan checks for viruses, and completely reformatting would wipe everything off. Is this right? If so, I'd rather not completely wipe it, and prefer to do the scan. Let me know if I have it wrong. Thanks.

 

I think my level of concern is often over the top, but I figure it is better to be safe than sorry. I trust you if you think the ESET is sufficient. Since it can take several hours, I'll run it tonight and let you know what happens.

 

You were right, nothing was found! Here are the results:

3/14/2026 13:32:31 PM
Scanned files: 721341
Detected files: 0
Cleaned files: 0
Total scan time: 05:55:40
Scan status: Finished

 

Yes! Can I delete everything we used from my desktop, or is there more to it than that? Often they don't show up in my installed apps for me to uninstall.

Thanks for all your help, you're great!

 

I posted new reports on https://forums.majorgeeks.com/threads/trojan-on-computer-1.326671/ Thank you!