Viruses and malware are spread with subtle goals, often related to fraudulent commercial policies. In fact, the best malware remains hidden on the PC, without paying attention, only to multiply and open access to hackers, who can use the resources of our computer. However, these viruses also have self-defense mechanisms and automatically change some Windows settings to make it more difficult for the user to remove them. For example, they can disable the task manager, registry editor, antivirus, firewall and can change Internet settings, causing problems with connecting and opening advertising web pages. If even our antivirus has failed to identify the threat in time, there is nothing left to do but reset Windows, so you can go back to work without problems. In this guide we will then show you how to reset a PC blocked by malware so as to return as quickly as possible to operations, without wasting too much time in cleaning or too long restores.
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Clean your system before recovery
Before proceeding with a recovery, it is always advisable to clean the system of any residual malware and viruses, because in many cases they will interfere with the procedures. In order to quickly clean our computer, we can use the Malwarebytes program.
By launching this program and pressing the Scan button, we can now search for any virus or threat present on our computer, so that we can remove any possible obstacle for recovery. For added security, we recommend that you also scan the system with Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool.
This tool can be launched to find any type of malware, adware, trojan and virus, so as to no longer have any residual infection when we decide to proceed with the recovery.
We can learn more about malware cleaning on Windows by reading our guide on how to remove malware, spyware and fake antivirus .
Fast recovery of Windows 10
After cleaning the PC, every moment is good to be able to restore the system! Even if your computer seems faster after using our cleaning tools, remember that many system files may have become damaged during the infection or some files have been replaced with pieces of viruses, which can reactivate at any moment ( in fact, we risk keeping a latent infection always active on the computer!).To proceed with the quick recovery on Windows 10, open the Settings app from the Start menu in the lower left (we can also click on the gear icon), then go to the Update and security -> Recovery path.
Click on Start in the Reset my PC section and choose the item Keep my files ; if the PC to be restored is a laptop, we can also remove the default apps added by the manufacturer by selecting Change settings> Pre-installed apps Disabled . In this way the fast recovery of Windows 10 will start, which will keep all our personal files ( Music, Videos, Documents, Pictures etc.), but will remove all the programs added manually, restore the initial settings of Windows and also restore the files system files possibly damaged by the virus.
At the end of the recovery (which can last even more than half an hour, depending on the speed of the disk) we will only have to reinstall our favorite programs and increase the security of the system, so as to avoid further infections on the computer; in this regard, we advise you to read our guide on the best combination of programs to protect your computer .
Full Windows Recovery (10, 8.1 and 7)
If unfortunately the system no longer starts, is completely blocked at startup or no longer allows access to the desktop, the damage carried out by the virus is high, so we will have to proceed with a complete recovery (a real format).First of all we recover our personal files, which are still saved on our disk and are just waiting to be "saved"! In order to proceed with a save, we advise you to read all the recommended procedures in our guide on recovering data and files from a computer that does not start, focusing in particular on the procedure in which we can use the Linux Live CD system (the best for this type of recovery).
After recovering all personal files, we recover a disk image of the version of Windows in use, helping us with the links in our guide How to Download each version of Windows 10, Windows 7 and ; recovered the right ISO image, burn it on a blank CD or DVD or create a USB stick with Windows, so we can proceed with the installation via USB port. Once we have prepared our diskette or USB stick for recovery, we insert the disk in the drive or the USB stick in a free homonymous port, set the right boot order and choose to start the system from the inserted medium. In both cases the Windows installation procedure will start; confirm the choice of Italian language and keyboard, then choose the Custom voice : install only Windows (advanced option) .
A new window will open with all the partitions present on the PC blocked by malware; select one by one all the partitions present and click Delete . As soon as the window will present as the only unallocated space partition, select it and finally click Next . The actual installation of Windows will now start, which will take at least half an hour. At the end we will have our Windows as new, formatted and ready to use! We can also restore the personal files that we had previously saved and, to avoid problems in the future, we set up a backup of the files on Windows and choose a good free antivirus alternative to Windows Defender, so that we can better protect our system and avoid a drastic procedure like that of total system formatting.
Conclusions
In this guide we have shown you how to clean the system from the residues of an infection and how to quickly restore Windows, so that you can get back to work in no time. If the damage is such as to completely block the computer, instead of wasting time with improbable restorations and cleanings, we save all our personal files and proceed with a clean installation: we will certainly take less time than trying to restore a system heavily compromised by viruses.In another guide we showed you how to repair the internet connection and restore the network ; if instead we wanted to move some of the programs from a locked PC to a still working PC, we can read our guide on how to transfer files and move programs from one PC to another .
READ ALSO: Reset your computer to factory settings
