Conceptually, these different levels of control are illustrated in the protection ring model with the all-powerful kernel inhabiting Ring Zero and mere human applications in the outer rings. On the other hand, applications that us humans directly interact with, such as word processors and web browsers, need relatively little control to do their job. The operating system heart, the kernel, needs to have absolute control over every piece of hardware and software in the computer in order to do its job. Different classes of programs need different permissions in order to do their job. In the run of a day you probably use many different programs on your computer. Some background on why rootkits are so evil

5 free rootkit removal, detection and scanner programs.Some background on why rootkits are so evil.Keep in mind that I used many antivirus and anti rootkit solutions and none of them have removed anything, thanks. My main question is that I don’t know which parts need to be replaced in order to remove the firmware rootkit and if I am eligible to get it replaced. Luckily I have a warranty on my PC which can cover accidental damage and a specialist can repair or replace my computer. I’m not a computer specialist and it’s way to risky for me to disassemble my computer. The only way to remove it is to replace or reflash certain parts of my computer. I came to conclusion that I have a BIOS/UEFI (firmware) rootkit. I’m not sure if that’s because of the virus or hardware issues.Įven after formatting and reinstalling my OS I think I still have malware since my cpu usage is abnormally high and all my firmware updates and drivers installed too. Nothing really changed except from a few keys that stopped working. Out of desperation I formatted and reinstalled my OS again using a usb stick. The only red flags was that my cpu usage would drop immediately every time I would open task manager as if a virus is trying to evade detection. Everything seemed normal when I started it up. I knew I was dealing with a more sophisticated malware so I decided to format and reinstall my OS via a bootable usb containing a copy of windows. There were still many red flags such as my system crashing and Norton symantec saying that it did detect traces of malware once in a while when I was using my PC. I tried to remove it using Norton scans but it detected nothing. I will give a quick brief of the virus I accidentally Installed.Īfter attempting to download ‘cracked’ software I thought I Installed a generic piece of malware that was easily removable.

Norton rootkit remover