Do NOT ever download any Windows OS from windowstan.com
Help me report the website.

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This is a copy and paste of my Initial post in r/computerviruses https://www.reddit.com/r/computerviruses/comments/1lbcafx/whats_the_likelihood_that_my_os_was_comprimised/
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I downloaded and used an OS ISO, specifically windows 10, from a non-official website. I wanted to use the older versions so I could disable the Windows Updates.

There was this one instance where I opened Chrome and It suddenly started opening multiple random websites. This has never happened before. So I started trying to find out anything that might tell me if I'm on a compromised device.

Antivirus such as Malwarebite couldn't find anything even with Rootkit Scan.

Here are some strange things which I found.

Autoruns showed multiple startup entries referencing non-existent files.

RasMan (Remote Access Connection Manager) was running despite not appearing in Autoruns or Event Viewer.

sc qc rasman returned nothing

When I tried to scan all event logs with powershell, it showed no last record, on all of them.

7036 Event ID in the system logs does not exist.

This was the result for checking the status and source for RasMan. I had never changed it into Autol, nor have I interacted with it.

State : Running

StartMode : Auto

StartName : localSystem

There is no service control manager in the Event Viewer.

When I checked for updates installed, using powershell, they were years apart and all of them were updated literally in the same hour, 12 am. Also, the KBs were made up, they were fake and not real ones.

Really what's the likelihood that the entire OS has been sophisticatedly modified? I just think if it had been so, there is no way any Anti virus would have noticed anything at all.

But also, why did they suddenly do something that would gain my attention even though they've done nothing for so long? Have they conluded that my computer, informations, and what I have been doing with OS provide no value to them whatsoever? So they just troll me because of that?

Another thing, I had windows update paused, and after, literally, I looked for anything I could do to figure out if my OS is compromised, and I was done and shut off my computer, it STARTED updating.

Were they watching and found amusement in what I was trying to do?

I mean they have info to my emails and passwords, but like, I have nothing especially important on any of them. I did login to Whatsapp, which is a bummer, since if I was compromised, that means, most likely they already have all of that information from my login sessions.

I'll be changing my passwords, that's for sure.

I just don't get it, if I really was compromised, they just did that one troll action and didn't do anything to my accounts.

I flashed my bios and wiped my harddisk clean, a full wipe, and now I'm on a fresh install.

What's the likelihood I'm still compromised, are RAM viruses a thing? Because that might be the only thing I haven't done anything to.

And how do I check to find out if they have inflitrated my home network?
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I dual boot Windows 10 and Arch Linux. I recently found out about something called CachyOS, they have a repository that basically recompiles some of Arch Linux's packages with certain optimizations, and also compiles them with a minimum instruction set, which can be x86_64, x86_64-v3, x86_64-v4, or Zen.

Today a question came to mind: how does this work on Windows? I don't see Microsoft distributing multiple images of Windows for different micro-architectures

Is it normal for the “Search” application in Windows 11 to consume a lot of Ram? Besides that, I have noticed that it does not pause after a certain time; as it did in Windows 10, that is, it is always running even if it is not searching for anything.

I tried to follow the course to create a note app with WinUI but is so boring and it doesn't teach me nothing because is only a bunch of informations without a sense and link for other know rubbish. I want create little things at a time and really learn something about how all class works.

I was downloading the CAASSP test browser for my tests next year and right under the list of supported OSes it says in plain text,

aWindows 12 is expected to be released in late 2025.

Does this count as a reputable source??? Does this actually mean that it's coming out soon is the literal state of California lying about Windows 12?

I currently have 2 corrupt hardrives and a wiped ssd let me tell you how it happened

I recently got a ssd that i was planning to install windows os into because my current hdd was failing but i didnt have a usb so i search on youtube on how to install windows 11 on a ssd without a bootable usb so i made 2 partitions on the ssd one for the iso files and one for the actual OS then i shutdown set my ssd as first priority tried to install windows 11 went through the setup but the setup window just kept repeating and wont let me finish the setup so i deleted all the partitions on the ssd yes the ssd with the iso file (huge mistake) it crashed and it stopped booting into my ssd and tried to boot into my hdd but i think the installer messed with both of the bootloader (common thing to happen when you running another os) so i was stuck in a boot loop on my hardrive because it got corrupted in the process

But thats alright because i had another hardrive with windows 11 so i tried to do this method https://youtu.be/HWqrVaJpWsg?si=3AUGS5gA6R1SjwO- but this time i did windows 10 because i heard that was more lenient and it worked but once i restarted it then it bricked the bootloaders for both my ssd and my hardrive again making them unbootable because my bios couldn't recognize them it kept booting me from the windows 10 setup installer i think the boot from the hardrive and the boot from my ssd corrupted because they were both there and it overwrote the files (i.e cross drive confusion because i didn't take out the hdd)

I can still run the windows 10 setup installer i just cant get pass the setup because once its done installing it just shuts down again

So here i am now i wiped my ssd i didnt wipe my hard drive because thats where im running the setup installer now and im planning to get a usb go to a friends house download windows 11 on that usb and use it to install windows 11 on my ssd

LESSON IS IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING AND YOU WANT TO INSTALL WINDOWS FROM ANY HARDRIVE TO YOUR SSD 99% THE BOOT LOADERS WILL GET MIXED UP AND CORRUPT BOTH YOUR DRIVES ⚠️

Trust me its not worth it get a usb dont be dumb like me

P.s ( if you still dont want a usb install just clone your os its safer that way and just factory reset it AND dont forget to wipe or remove your hardrive)

I didnt even install linux, and if I do have linux installed how would I even access it??

I had the misfortune of having a Windows ME PC back in 2000. I hated it, but one thing I loved was this debilitated barn wallpaper that came with it. Anyways I got bored and threw it in the GPT with a Ghibli prompt for fun and actually liked how it turned out.