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- HP Community
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- Locked out of my new pc

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04-26-2024 03:59 PM
So I used my PC in the morning worked fine let me in and then turned it off to come back later and not be able to gain access using that same pin can someone please tell me what I need to do
My apple account which is the email I was using on my hp PC has been hacked and confirmed a phishing attack could this also be in this PC now
Please tell me it can be fixed it's only new a month old
04-26-2024 04:56 PM
Sorry for the really BAD news -- but if your PC has been attacked by Malware, there is no safe way to clean that out, as some of that is really good at hiding from the best Antivirus products.
The only SAFE thing to do is to do a Secure Erase of your drive -- WIPING all the data from it -- and then using the HP CLoud Recovery tool to create a 32GB USB stick you can use to reinstall Windows on it (more on this below).
Once you have reinstalled Windows, you would do better to switch over to using a Local account, this way, if your email gets hacked, that can not then be passed on to your PC.
Since this is a new laptop, it almost certainly has an SSD as the primary internal drive. So, Here's a document from HP about doing a Secure Erase on an SSD:
https://www.hp.com/my-en/shop/tech-takes/post/how-to-secure-erase-an-ssd-drive
If your PC is a 2016 model or newer, you should see if you can make a bootable USB recovery drive using the HP cloud recovery tool on a working PC.
The recovery drive can then be used to install Windows and the HP drivers and utilities that originally came with your PC.
You will need a working PC and a 32GB USB stick to hold the recovery files. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmtXOU40vxk
You use the Microsoft Store to download the actual tool:
https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9mtks9pr7r3n?rtc=1&hl=en-us&gl=us
If you use a different PC to run the tool, you will have to provide your PC's product number. Here is an HP link for finding that information:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/ish_2039298-1862169-16
Here's a video from HP Support about using the Cloud Recovery Tool:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7AwuKNJKS4
I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor represent, HP