[Windows Central Question]

I think my windows 10 Home pc has been hacked

[Deborah_Sawyer]

Yes it can. Do you have a really good password on your router so no one can access it? Do you have a good password on your computer?

[Lydia21]

The password was not the strongest

[Lydia21]

Thank you for your answer Deborah. I have read that Windows 10 Home cannot be hacked. But I am 99.9% certain that mine has been hacked

[Deborah_Sawyer]

Your router can be hacked and they can have access to your computer. That's why I mention if you had strong passwords for your router. Also have you talked to anyone on the phone regarding getting access to your computer? Never let anyone access your computer! Did you receive a pop up on your screen saying you had a virus and you let someone access your computer?

This is what I asked my customers. I am a IT Consultant.

the best thing I can tell you is to create a strong password for your router, and change it. Never give out that password.

[Lydia21]

Deborah, it is my oh's computer. No he would never speak to anyone on the phone regarding accessing his laptop. He did experience where his internet kept throwing up multiple web pages at once which he did not request. He has never let anyone unauthorised access his laptop. His AVG antivirus stopped working in February 2017 and he couldn't reset it so contacted AVG and they tried to sort the problem, they had remote access to try to sort it. They were unable to sort it so escalated to their senior team. At one point while the senior team adviser was trying to sort the issue the remote session got disconnected and reconnected again and the adviser said that it was due to fluctuating internet connection (I thought that fibre WiFi didn't fluctuate) I think there is a strong possibility that a hacker has entered the laptop via a back door at this point, unknown to my oh. The adviser managed to sort the issue and we thought everything was ok.

[Lydia21]

until my oh was accused of a computer crime of which he has no knowledge and we strongly believe someone has carried out a revenge hacking attack for his involvement in reporting a crime a year earlier. Forensics have examined his laptop and claim that there is no evidence of remote access and that a Windows 10 Home operating system cannot be remotely accessed. But we strongly disagree

[Deborah_Sawyer]

Well I would recommend the recovery on your laptop, a complete reinstall of Windows 10.

[TechFreak1]

Sounds like Malware, you will need to run a malware scan.

I would recommend downloading the following on another PC:
Trend Micro Housecall + the rootkit buster
www.trendmicro.com/en_us/forHome/products/housecall.html
Malwarebytes
https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/thankyou/

Hitman (cloud based anti-virus)
https://www.hitmanpro.com/en-us/hmp.aspx

Then running these tools in safe mode - to do so go to settings -> update & security -> recovery -> advanced start up -> safe mode. Also you may need to download updates malwarebytes and definitions for the house call scanner, if that is an issue then I would suggest getting a usb enclosure and placing the laptop's hard drive in that and using another PC or laptop to scan it.

Also I would suggest getting a firewall if you haven't already and if it does turn out to be more nefarious than a hardware based firewall (these can be extremely expensive). It most likely is malware causing redirects and web page loads.

Lastly, anything can be hacked through zero day exploits as no software is truly infallible - The question is do you live constantly worrying about it or just live your lives?

I would say do the malware scans and see it how it goes.

[Laura Knotek]

Sounds like Malware, you will need to run a malware scan.

I would recommend downloading the following on another PC:
Trend Micro Housecall + the rootkit buster
www.trendmicro.com/en_us/forHome/products/housecall.html
Malwarebytes
https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/thankyou/

Hitman (cloud based anti-virus)
https://www.hitmanpro.com/en-us/hmp.aspx

Then running these tools in safe mode - to do so go to settings -> update & security -> recovery -> advanced start up -> safe mode. Also you may need to download updates malwarebytes and definitions for the house call scanner, if that is an issue then I would suggest getting a usb enclosure and placing the laptop's hard drive in that and using another PC or laptop to scan it.

Also I would suggest getting a firewall if you haven't already and if it does turn out to be more nefarious than a hardware based firewall (these can be extremely expensive). It most likely is malware causing redirects and web page loads.

Lastly, anything can be hacked through zero day exploits as no software is truly infallible - The question is do you live constantly worrying about it or just live your lives?

I would say do the malware scans and see it how it goes.

This is excellent advice. I especially recommend Malwarebytes.

[Deborah_Sawyer]

Avira & Malwarebytes are my favorites .

[Ryujingt3]

Yes, it can be hacked. What's written by one person (essentially) can usually be hacked by others. Nothing is 100% unhackable. It all depends on the preventative measures you as the user takes. It's like buying a house. You always lock the doors and windows but then you buy metal shutters for the windows and doors for extra protection.

Make sure your router has a strong password. Restore the PC completely and apply strong passwords to all user accounts on the machine as well after reinstalling Windows again and make sure you have strong antivirus and antimalware software installed (see suggestions above).

After that, go through all email and social media accounts, make the passwords stronger and store them all in a password manager app like Enpass or Lastpass.

Basically, do a complete password audit for you and your Oh and make them all strong passwords. Turn on two factor authentication where supported too (e.g. Facebook, Outlook etc.). It's up to you to also help add more stronger doors and windows (going back to my original, and hopefully easy to understand house analogy).

[pkcable]

Avira & Malwarebytes are my favorites .

I'm an IT guy also. I fully agree Avira & Malwarebytes, AND SpyBot Search and Destroy for good measure. :)

[Ryujingt3]

I'm an IT guy also. I fully agree Avira & Malwarebytes, AND SpyBot Search and Destroy for good measure. :)

That's all well and good and useful advice but the OP also needs to perform a full security audit on all their accounts too. After all, it is usually human error (i.e. weak passwords), that allow for computers to be compromised.

[pkcable]

That's all well and good and useful advice but the OP also needs to perform a full security audit on all their accounts too. After all, it is usually human error (i.e. weak passwords), that allow for computers to be compromised.

For sure!

[Ryujingt3]

For sure!

Sadly, this is the area most people overlook. They just change their antivirus software to something 'better' and stick with that.

[ochhanz]

Deborah, it is my oh's computer. No he would never speak to anyone on the phone regarding accessing his laptop. He did experience where his internet kept throwing up multiple web pages at once which he did not request.

, bit late to the party but in addition to the above suggestions, install something like Ublock Origin or Adblock Plus (note not Ublock or Adblock, those are different). Since malware can be spread through modern ads and there are filters to block malware etc. Ublock Origin is easier to setup since the filters to block malware are already included iirc, though I prefer Adblock Plus since non-obstructive and non-dangerous ads are still allowed so you still give websites a fair chance to make some profit of the ads to compensate for their web costs etc. Iirc the anti malware filters for Adblock Plus can be included from their site.
Another tip is to use Firefox if don't use it already, it generally offers better privacy and security protection compared to other browsers.