Hi, I’m not a coder etc but I’m not a complete noob with computers.

My FIL has apparently been scammed / hacked by some shithead (according to wife) who has apparently managed to get control whenever he turns his laptop on. I don’t know much more than that right now. The situation is pretty shityy because the poor old man lost EVERYTHING in recent flooding; all possessions, personal documents etc. He was given this laptop to help him get his life back together, personal admin etc.

He’s actually an OG coder and mathematician but is old enough to be vulnerable to the crap that these scum pull on the unsuspecting.

I’m wondering if there’s a way (rubberduck?) to quickly delete teamware etc as soon as the pc boots. Not sure how much admin control he has anymore.

Is there a safe mode (?) way of getting back control / kicking external admins?

Many thanks for any advice.

    • Lophostemon@aussie.zoneOP
      3·
      1 year ago

      Thanks, we might give that a go. I don’t really know what else is happening, TBH. I only heard about this briefly last night. Apparently my FIL is now being “stalked” and he’s had to change phone number etc.

    • phx@lemmy.ca
      3·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, even if you’re extremely knowledgeable with computers I do not recommend trusting the OS (or sometimes the whole device) after it’s been compromised. Back stuff up, wipe, reinstall.

      That or have a fresh drive installed and then a clean OS, then pop the old one on a USB enclosure and grab just what you need from it. Beware that a really nasty hacker could have invented remaining files with Trojans/malware so definitely re-download any installers rather than using the stuff from the old drive.

    • RubberElectrons@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      This works, even if you disconnect your home router temporarily.

      I’d strongly recommend using an external boot disk to save your important documents. Beware of any zips or executables within those directories you’re backing up, they also may have been modified. You can also just pull the hard drive out and stick it into a USB hdd adapter and plug it in like it’s a regular flash drive. Again, be careful or you may infect your personal system as well.

    • Lophostemon@aussie.zoneOP
      2·
      1 year ago

      This occurred to me as I typed the original query. I wonder how much control the guy has and whether we can even get into the files.