Clean Reinstall Windows 10 Laptop

Oh yes, anything possible. Like some manage to bitlock intelligence & common sense, and loose password\key.

 

When I mention financial files, I did not mean like by my bank. It is much more important than that. its not files by the bank.


Now if my usb flash drive was indeed encrypted with bitlocker... which to me it cannot. The reason being if it was... wouldn't everytime I plug the usb into my laptop and try to open it, it would ask me for a pin/password? Because not once I remember that ever happening. Or would it automatically let me use the usb because i connected it my computer which uses bitlocker?


Again yesterday I had turned off bitlocker. As long as I have the bitlocker recovery key for this machine... if in the future I want to use any windows machine and enter that recovery key, then plug this same usb into it, i could then unlock it right... if i indeed was bitlocker?


Right now I just want to upload these maybe compromised files from my maybe compromised laptop up the cloud. I do not want to bother going to get another thumb drive or external hdd only for me to cause the same problem to it like this one.


Can you tell me how I can get into safe mode with networking? You mentioned you cannot get on wifi this way but someone else said it might be possible depending on your wifi adapter. I just want to try this to see if I can get on wifi. Its either that or just going to the cloud while regular mode and then uploading those files to the cloud. I am not going to do any other method.

 

Can anyone fathom the depths of intellect required to know you've screwed yourself with encryption then to draw upon the staggering amounts of that intellect and say you're going to do it again?
The lengths some people go to to keep Mommy from seeing the pron collection eh ?
Admit it, if he was of age he would go to a real casino instead of the online gambling sites.....and know without a doubt that both are only there to screw you out of your money.

AND....still state his *maybe* compromised laptop.
It's overwhelming I tell you.
Can we get a petition going for the next Nobel prize winner ?

 

My point is if you or another party have copies of the files, then you don't need these. I can't help but point out that this encryption is the reason why we are currently stalled reinstalling Windows.

Not sure. If it was bitlocker encrypted, you'd get a password challenge when you try to access it.

This has nothing to do with the problem at hand.

What??

Dude, you're apparently committed in doing this however you want to do it. I've repeatedly given you my recommendation on how to solve this particular issue and you just keep throwing up smokescreen after smokescreen avoiding what needs to be done. The way your AV is behaving points to problems with your laptop, that isn't even a question anymore. Saying it "might" be compromised is downplaying what's going on and the fact you're entertaining the idea of uploading files to the cloud, regardless, tells me you aren't paying attention to what anyone has said here. Your online habits expose you to risk. Your lack of knowledge in how malware works, where it comes from, what it's after, is lacking and exposes you to risk. Your knowledge of PCs and how they work exposes you to risk. And your knowledge of encryption isn't protecting your data right now, it is actively impairing your ability to recover your system.

I would have formatted my laptop and reinstalled Windows the moment I suspected the unit had been compromised. I would have backed my files up well before hitting that threshold. You've cornered yourself because you don't understand the reason encryption is used and decided to go for it because you felt like it. This entire thread has been a colossal waste of time and I'm actually a bit upset in trying to walk you through fixing this issue. Drew, do what you want to do. Do the leg work and figure out how to boot into safe mode with networking or don't, and upload whatever cancer is on your laptop to the cloud so you can reinfect your laptop at a later date. I'm not going to help you do something I know isn't the right move here. The internet is a big place and you clearly know how to use it.

I'm done here.

 

Hi. I understand that I have caused this a mess. Yes if I didn't do encryption on axcrypt, this would not been an issue.


Well the moment I thought I was compromised, I wasn't sure what to do. But I bought a new cheap windows pc for this pretty much quickly so I could log into my other accounts to see if there was an issue.
I did back up a lot of important files on it previously but I still had some files I wanted to back up.


I just got into safe mode with networking... but doesn't appear i can get online.


The only thing I did notice is when me posting here vs other forums... majority of the people in the other forums do not believe I have malware/virus. Almost everyone said kaspersky shows 0 threats, you have zero threats. Also that windows defender threat thing... everybody mentioned this was some glitch... which just has to me. Because you cannot keep having threats shown when you do a virus scan and it shows 0 threats.


I appreciate you helping me here. The thing was the other forums that I spoke to this about... literally all of them gave me the complete opposite opinion of what is posted here. They told me whether I upload files to the cloud in normal mode or safe mode networking won't mean much. They said if were they infected... it will still be the same thing. I even had some experts on other forums... who tell me they wouldn't even bother doing a clean install. Yes you heard that right.
Also these people said nothing about those poker programs being malware because they know many of these programs are known to be false positives. So I was surprised they didn't say anything about this.


The thing was if everyone pretty much said the same thing, then its pretty easy to do it. But I figure just clean reinstall it anyway.

 

If its not from your bank then what other financial files do you have, Tax returns, stocks, bonds, crypto? You said your main income is from online poker and yet you have more security than the average IT worker and still end up getting infected with malware which is mindblowing. You really screw yourself with the encryption which is only needed for businesses to protect their customers and their own personal data especially when traveling which clearly you dont.

Personally you made your situation more complicated than it is now you probably wont be able to recover the system. No what advice people give you you just do the opposite anyways . If you do manage fix your laptop learn from your mistakes and change your habits otherwise you'll end up getting infected again.

 

Since there really is no such thing as 'The Cloud' being that it's just a name the inept use for FTP or a fancy UI for shell script access...I doubt you can upload a compromised file.
I've never tried myself so I cannot say for sure.
Obviously you cannot access anything in safe mode because drivers are not loaded....you know, network card drivers???
This fiasco just goes on and on and I'm absolutely certain we will see at least 3 more threads about it.
Because hey...a new thread will give new answers, right ?
I'd love to see how far this would get on the HardForum

 

Then by all means listen to what you were told on those other forums and stop bothering us here.

 

Hey gumwars. I'm done moving the files to the cloud. So I am going to do the clean reinstall. Again the issue why I didn't get another usb flash drive or external hard drive is because I will most likely run in to the same issue where I cannot format it. I don't want another usb drive to have the same issue again.


Now I will start the process of doing the clean reinstall of windows ten pro here as now I don't care about the files in this maybe compromised laptop anymore.


I should shut down the laptop first. Then plug the windows ten usb into it... then turn on my laptop... and press F12 repeatedly to boot


And if it doesn't boot, then let windows load. Then restart and press F12 repeatedly


OR

Just plug the windows usb into it when in the normal mode and then restart and press F12 repeatedly?





When I did the clean reinstall of windows ten on my windows desktop, I had done the first option... but instead of restarting it. I kept shutting it down. Then power it on... did it multiple times and it didn't boot at all. Then I finally restarted it and pressed F12 and that worked because apparently of the fast start issue.



Again my concern is I kind of don't want the windows ten usb stick on my maybe compromised laptop... when its on normally in case it could infect it. Thus I want to make sure it boots it from when I turn on the computer. But that is something you shouldn't worry about? Thus I would prefer to just have it boot without it even seeing the normal screen... but that probably won't happen right since I have to have it plugged in and then resetting it? The thing is my BIOS is very old... I never updated this ever. So its at least 5 years plus old. I had read about BIOS update and the consensus was if you don't need to, don't because it can brick it. But will this affect me booting the windows ten on the usb?



I do know when I do this clean reinstall process, it should take about half an hour or so as I done this with my windows ten desktop already earlier. Thanks.

 

May I suggest OP should acquire a computer perfectly adapted to factual mental and practical skills. & looking forward with great anticipation to the forthcoming 19 topics and 1577 posts about how to power it up.

 

No sane person would open endless posts and so many discussions !. When i read these endless discussions the first thing that comes to mind is a possible forum-level attack to look for some flaw in the code from the inside.

 

Chapter 1789, section B\64, ref: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/fo...d-old-external-hard-drive/page-2#entry5302217

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(Mods: feel free to edit or ban :O)

So I just tried to connect the old one tb seagate external hard drive to my desktop. It doesn't appear to read it.
So I just tried to connect the old brain to my body. It doesn't appear to read it.


I get message The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned and Windows does not recognize it.
I get message The last brain you connected to this body malfunctioned and body does not recognize it.


Try reconnecting the device. If windows still does not recognize it, your device may not be working properly.
Try reconnecting the brain. If the body still does not recognize it, your brain may not be working properly.


This is on the dell desktop that I connected it to.
This is on my body that I connected it to.

After keep reconnecting it many times it showed up on my pc as a device. This hard drive is not empty as I thought it was. Used up like 70gb of the 900gb+. I then used kaspersky to scan but it kept freezing. But not only that, it keeps making this screeching sound and another sound. That sounds like a failed external hard drive right? After keep unplugging and plugging it, I was able to use kaspersky to scan it more than halfway as it then recognized it but I then pushed it a bit and then it doesn't recognize it anymore again.
After keep reconnecting it many times it showed up on my body as a primate. This brain is not empty as I thought it was. Contained like 7 grunts of my 90 available. I then used CT to scan it but it kept freezing. But not only that, the brain keeps making this screeching sound and another sound, That sounds like a failed brain right? After keep unplugging and plugging it, I was able to use CT to scan it more than halfway as the body then recognized it but I then pushed it a bit and then body doesn't recognize it anymore again.


So basically this hard drive is no good? .
So basically this brain is no good?.


The last time I connected it was a while back and it never had problems.
The last time I connected the brain was 279 years back an it never had problems.


Thing is strange because it keep flashing a blue light over and over again. Then once it doesn't recognize there is a blue light that just stays there. Is that normal?
Thing is strange because the brain keep flashing a blue light over and over again. Then once it doesn't recognize there are blue lightnings that just stays there. Is that normal?


Now if I'm able to get it recognized again and do a full kaspersky scan of it and it shows 0 threats... would me formatting it possibly fix this issue? Or its already a failed drive from these details?
Now if I'm able to get brain recognized again and do a full CT scan of it and it shows 0 common sense, would me formatting it possibly fix the issue? Or its already a failed brain from all these posts?

Happy New Year to all :O)