New
#1
Professional cleaning: what's involved?
Several weeks back, my brother, who is astonishingly naive about computers, got taken in by some malware on his computer. A screen came up which told him his computer had been compromised and advised him to call a specific number for help. *He actually called the number*. He fell hook, line and and sinker for the entire scam, which involved him paying $350 for a five year security maintenance package. A few weeks later, they called him and said his computer was infected again and it was their fault and they were going to refund his money; they claimed to have refunded 10 times the amount they owed him and wanted him to pay back the surplus, which he proceeded to do, via iTunes gift cards. I could hear his phone conversations with the scammers and knew something was up but he was sure that everything was fine; he even believed that he was going to get several hundreds dollars bonus for all his time and trouble in helping them rectify "their mistake". (I told you he was naive.) Anyway, long story short, I finally persuaded him he was being swindled and got him to stop giving them gift cards; he ended up losing a good bit of money. We reported the incident to the police but were advised it was unlikely they would be able to do anything; they haven't called back since the officer was here to take the report.
We spoke to the bank and got his password changed for his online banking - I think they had installed a keylogger on his computer and obtained his password and messed around with his bank accounts to some extent - and were advised to get a professional cleaning done on the computer before using it again; it has been offline ever since. He's strapped for money right now but would like to use the computer again.
I'm willing to help him clean the computer - I'm reasonably proficient with computers - but before I tackle this, I'd like to know what exactly the bank was implying by a "professional" cleaning. In other words, what would a good computer store do if they had to clean up a computer that had been compromised in this way?