1. There is no such thing as a "pending" ban or Steam admin. Anyone threatening your account is a scammer trying to scare you. Read more.

How to know my computer is safe after getting scammed with an .exe?

Discussion in 'SteamRep General Discussion' started by erack, Nov 15, 2014.

  1. erack

    erack New User

    Messages:
    1
    Steam:
    STEAM_0:1:4576939
    I was tricked into running an .exe that stole everything in my inventory recently. Don't ask, it's a long story but the scammer went a VERY long way to seem trustworthy (weeks of friendly play and communication).

    My inventory was emptied after running the exe. My account was NOT hijacked, I retained full control and was able to change my password afterwards. My market history shows the flow of my items to their account. I am working with Steam support to get my items returned.

    I ran Malwarebytes and ESET Online Scanner but both reported my system was clean. No programs were added to the startup.

    Should I still consider my computer compromised and reinstall Windows?
  2. Tio José das Vacas

    Tio José das Vacas SteamRep Admin Partner Community Donator - Tier V

    Messages:
    6,204
    SteamRep Admin:
    STEAM_0:1:32194479
    Mattie! likes this.
  3. Horse

    Horse Administrator SteamRep Admin

    Messages:
    76,871
    SteamRep Admin:
    STEAM_0:1:34690691
    That help guide is ok - but you really should find someone that is qualified to go over it if you are here asking this question.
    If you don't know what your doing which you obviously don't since you are again here asking this question, then you run the risk of missing something most likely.
  4. SilentReaper(SR)

    SilentReaper(SR) Retired Staff

    Messages:
    11,991
    SteamRep Admin:
    STEAM_0:0:89705646
    That guide is intended for Securing one's computer, as in preventive measures. At the bottom some links are given to sites that specialize in helping people with their infected computers etc. Cleaning one's computer is not something that can be captured in a guide, at least not one as "short" as that one, and is highly volatile. I wrote that as a "general" thing so people could understand that using a combination of measures would be sane to use, without getting too much in their own way.

    The relevant part of that guide is the link to this:
    The links I gave came from the bottom link there. I just gave some links which came from there, these are a long list of various sites in various languages that help people clean their computers. I tried finding another source with such a nice list, unbiased to not use ComboFix as the lead program, but didn't find it (yet). But ComboFix is a very good tool for the experienced at this. I've used it, and had good results with it. But I do not like to rely on only 1 program for such.

    I do not think its worth it to spend a lot of time on cleaning a computer, my strategy is often just establishing the infection, look if that is fixable without that it relapses once I leave due a vulnerability/re-installation script left by it. Luckely, most ppl I help with their computers aren't infected with a lot of crap because I managed their computer security enough to prevent most of it, and that makes it often easy to get rid of any that actually got thru. That makes that I rarely need to re-install windows for them. But on a some computer I never worked on, new case and finding stuff? I'd recover the data with a boot CD or mount it as a USB disk on another computer to copy the files they need, wipe it, and re-install it with sensible security. And if its behaving weird and nothing to be found? Well, I would do it anyways. Installing windows with drivers and some software is for me often way faster then to try dig out everything, without any insurance that everything can be repaired. I'd like my time productive.
    Tio José das Vacas likes this.