I was hacked, they got me for $1,350. How do I make sure PC is OK?

[ckbeme 1]

My laptop was hacked on 7-7-16. It had ESET AV on it. My desktop didn't get hit cuz I had ESET Smart Security on it. I tried to change my IP addresse, but as many of you know, many times that doesn't work with certain ISPs. I called Comcast and told them my story and said I'd tried many times to get a new IP and the commands just aren't doing it. They said they couldn't assign a new  IP to me. I know that's a load of baloney. Anyway, a really nice guy on a forum found something. In your router software, change the last digit in your router MAC address. It's risky, but I was afraid to even turn on either PC until I had a new IP address. It Worked!!

 

Problem #1 So, I've decided I'm going to format my drives and reinstall Windows. My laptop is really almost non functional, it can't connect to the internet and it's crawling. My desktop has been hit now too. On the advice of my ISP I downloaded Norton Security for free from Comcast. The guy said Norton's lots better than ESET. I installed it on laptop, then I looked at several reviews on web and Norton was in the top 3 on ALL of them except one. And ESET wasn't even in top 10 except twice.

 

So I put Norton on my desktop too. Well, my desktop got hacked too. (this was before I got new IP address)  I HATE Norton. It's a pain to configure. So I uninstalled it and now ESET won't install. I've tried 5-6 times.  I uninstalled Malware Bytes, turned off Windows Defender (it came on automatically) and even turned off Windows firewall. I've rebooted my PC 2 or 3 times.

 

I need some help there. I'll attach a screen print of the error msg I'm getting. In the meantime I just turned on Windows Defender. I'm have a feeling Norton didn't uninstall completely.

 

Problem #2  I'm going to back up my data files before I reinstall Windows. I'm afraid when I restore my data, I'll restore some nasty stuff left by the hackers. Anyone know of a good scanning software that looks for stuff that hackers are likely to plant on a PC? I've posted to 3 forums and not gotten a response from any of them. I was told by a sticky on each forum to run this app or that app and send them the logs. Their special person would review the logs and post back. Nothing yet and it's been over a week.

 

I've done Virus scans every day since the hack and all I've found was a few PUPs.

 

Please, someone give me some advice. On BOTH issues. I sent email to customer support at ESET but won't hear from them til Monday or even Tuesday. I'm not working, haven't since Feb because of a car accident, so I can't spend big bucks for software.

 

I'd appreciate any help or ideas.

 

 

Thanks,

 

ckbeme

[itman 1,659]

Download the Norton removal tool here: https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/kb20080710133834EN_EndUserProfile_en_us . Run it and then try to reinstall Eset.

[ckbeme 1]

Thanks so much for the reply and suggestion. I'm sorry I'm just getting back to you. I was sure I had my profile set to email notifications when I got a hit on my post, but I didn't get an email. And I've been checking my spam daily since I've posted to several forums about this problem. I'll let you know if it works.

[King Grub 5]

I don't have any good advice; I just wanted to say that I hope you get things fixed without any more issues. Getting hacked sucks!