Help! I have been infected and am going it alone to remove the malware.

I have a small tax accounting firm I run from home. I am always careful and keep all client records in the cloud. I never use public wi-fi and run Microsoft Defender as well as MalwareBytes. Around June my command prompt kept popping up and making work very unproductive so I began searching for answers. I had run three different malware scans with nothing showing. As I began the onboarding process for a new client, I began noticing more and more activity which caused even more concern.

Finally, I contacted the IRS directly because I am an EFIN holder and have direct transmission capabilities. They had me run standard WISP protocol, they even ran their own scan of my hard drive and assured me there was no infection.

I was still concerned, so I broke out my old Dell laptop (retired for 3 years) to see if I can detect anything and "BOOM". Good old Avast Free Antivirus nailed it!

I am going to start working through the information I got from this thread to see if I can remove the infection myself because rebuilding my hard drive is probably more of an undertaking than I can handle.

The craziest part in all of this is, I began working from home because I was diagnosed with Short Bowel Syndrome in 2017 and by 2018 the local doctors had given up hope and given me 18 months to live. I found a specialist at the University of Nebraska's Intestinal Rehab Program. I had heard about BOINC and wanted to participate because Short Bowel Syndrome is a rare disorder and most patients are children born with it and I truly wanted to help. However, being an EFIN holder and CPA, I could not take a chance with my client's private information.

I thought I had been diligent. I finally found the download and it was disguised as a Microsoft Update. Owning a small business like this is hard enough, living with a rare disorder is even harder and now I have to be an internet security expert on top of that? If my medical expenses weren't so astronomical, I think I would give up and retire but one medication alone is over $700/month after insurance.

So I guess I am going to go for the gusto! I'll be back to let you know if my new 17" LG Gram laptop survives the process! LOL

Thank you all for sharing your wisdom and also for those that share their resources. People like myself really do benefit from the research and the advice.

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