Here’s What To Do If You Think Your Computer’s Been Hacked

Ever had the fear that your computer has been hacked? Well, you’re not the first, and since we keep a lot of information on our laptops, we’d like them to stay safe and remain private. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Someone may find a backdoor into your computer, and I’m here to show you what to do to fight the hackers.

What To Do If You Think Your Computer’s Been Hacked

Unplug Your Internet

Disconnecting from your internet should be the first step you take. Without the internet, hackers will lose access to your computer. This should buy you some time to figure out what’s happening and stop them from causing more damage.

Run Your Virus Scanner (Optional)

This should be the next step in your plan. Unfortunately, this only works for virus scanners that work without the internet. Hence why, it is an optional measure. If not, you should boot your computer into safe mode without networking. Don’t worry; we’ll show you how to do that.

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Safe Mode with Networking

1. Go to the ‘Start Menu’, The windows Button
2. Click on ‘Settings’
3. Click ‘Update and Security
4. Go To ‘Recovery’
5. Find ‘Advanced Startup’ and hit restart now
6. After you reboot, there will be a different blue screen
7. Hit ‘Troubleshoot’
8. Move to ‘Advanced options’
9. Then ‘Startup settings’
10. Hit ‘Restart’
11. Then you’ll see a bunch of options. Here is where you enable SafeMode with networking by clicking the number ‘5’

As for the Macbook Users, to boot it into safe mode:

1. Shut down the computer
2. hold the power button down for a while till it turns on
3. Then hold the shift key until you reach the login screen. (Do not let go)
4. It will take a few minutes, but when it comes on, it will say safe boot in the corner
5. Only apple installed items will work

This puts your computer in a very limited state and will only run the basic windows operations and won’t run any other things such as trojans. From here, you can connect back to the internet and download anti-virus software.

For trojans and malware, we recommend software like ‘Malware bites and Bit defender. However, different viruses pick up different things, so be sure to use what you prefer. Once you’ve done the necessary searches, restart your computer to get out of safe mode.

The faster you do this, the faster you solve your issues.

Cover photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash