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HP 15.6 inch Laptop PC 15-fd0000 (794H8AV)

When working on my computer yesterday, numerous windows popped up saying i was hacked.   it said to [content removed] name [content removed],  he asked for access on my computer to clear up the hacking.  This has all been reported to the FBI and my Bank.   Right now, I just want to know that my computer is safe.  I am not going to 

 

 

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Sorry, but NO, your computer is NOT safe.  Once a hacker gains access to your PC, they can write practically anything to the filesystem including ransomware and other forms of malware.  And they can hide that so well that antivirus apps will not be able to find or remove it.

 

The only SAFE solution is to do the following:

1) Remove the internal drive from the machine, or if the drive is not removable, boot from an OS USB Stick, and use an option to do a Secure Erase of the drive. One app that does this is MiniTool Partition Wizard. I am sure there are others as well.

2) Create a USB stick with the HP OEM version of Windows on it to reinstall Windows to the now blank 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.  If it is older than that, I do not know where you can get HP OEM Windows from.  Also, I believe the HP tool only does Windows 10 and 11, and if your laptop came with Windows 7, I do not think the tool will work.



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