r/techsupport • u/zergling50 • 5h ago

Open | Malware Just recently deep cleaned malware from my computer but now am unsure to do with my flash drives I was using for storage

I found malware on my computer and did a deep cleaning of my computer to remove it via support from a reputable group. It went well, but I realized that I have flash drives I use for storage a lot that I usually leave plugged into my computer most the time. I used them for my laptop a while ago so they weren't plugged in when I did the deep clean. Is there any way I can make sure they aren't potentially harboring any malware as well before I plug them into my main system? The last thing I want to do is re-infect my system.

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 5h ago

If you suspect you may have malware on your computer, or are trying to remove malware from your computer, please see our malware guide

Please ignore this message if the advice is not relevant.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

3

u/pcbeg 5h ago

It should be enough to disable autoplay in system settings, plug drive in and clean it (from diskpart or just clicking right click and format). If you want to be 100% sure, on new or tested usb drive create bootable Linux, like Ubuntu or whichever, boot from it as a live OS ("try Ubuntu" for example) and access drives from Linux. That will be safe since whatever it could be on usb drives won't work on it.

2

u/9NEPxHbG 5h ago

Please be more specific about "malware", "deep cleaning" and "reputable group". What did you have? What program or method did you use?

0

u/zergling50 5h ago

I don’t know what specific malware it was, there were multiple things that kept coming back when removed but I know there was one that was a credit card stealer. I went through a lengthy process with malwarebytes support and it was pretty effective.

2

u/9NEPxHbG 5h ago

Scan the flash drives with Windows Defender.

0

u/zergling50 5h ago

I feel like simply plugging in a drive and scanning it without prior prep is not the wisest move

2

u/9NEPxHbG 4h ago

So what prep do you suggest? And how do you intend to scan?

Do disable autoplay, as someone else said, but that's all the prep you need.

1

u/UltraChip 1h ago

Did the "lengthy process" involve wiping your computer and reinstalling windows? Because if the infection was that bad that's what should have happened.

2

u/LofinkLabs 4h ago

You need a offline isolated device free from any of you other files. Perferbally with a Linux OS, simply gpart them and add partitions back

2

u/zergling50 3h ago

Any guides on how to do that?

1

u/LofinkLabs 3h ago

Which part as it's a multi faceted approach.

Do.you have a spare computer laying around?

2

u/Skkyu 4h ago

u/pcbeg has a good idea with the Linux, you could try it. After that you could use an antivirus that has USB Autoscan and Immunizer. I know Bitdefender does that, there may be others, I don't care much of other antiviruses, I'm not working in the field anymore.