Under normal conditions, your computer's hard drive will not contain a record of your keystrokes. While some information you type may be stored, for instance, the addresses of the websites you visit stored in your browser's history, there is no legitimate reason for your computer to record all of your keystrokes. Keystroke loggers, malicious hardware often developed by identity thieves, will however record your keystrokes and present a serious security risk. Therefore, to erase the record of your keystrokes, you need to remove the keystroke logger and all of the files it has created.
Instructions
1. Download RKill from Bleeping Computer (see Resources) or any other trusted download site. When asked whether to save or run the file, click on "Save" and place the file icon on your desktop. You may need to use this program again, so it is a good idea to keep it easily accessible. After the file is saved, double click on the icon and select "Run." When you do so, RKill will stop the malicious programs that are running in the background in stealth mode. Most of these programs will not show up in Task Manager and are therefore impossible to stop manually.
2. Click on the "Start" button from the lower left corner of your screen. Go to "All Programs" from the menu and select "Accessories." Now click on "Accessibility" and select the "On Screen Keyboard" option. A virtual keyboard will appear on your screen where you can type with your mouse. It will be considerably slower and cumbersome to type this way, of course, but if you must access sensitive material such as bank accounts, this method of entering data is a little safer than typing through your keyboard. However, if possible, it is best not to enter critical data into your computer until all malware is removed.
3. Go to the Malware Bytes Anti-Malware Homepage and click on the download button of your choice. You can download the free or paid version, both of which feature the identical software package. However, the paid version offers personal support, whereas the free version allows you to ask questions only on the discussion boards. When asked whether you wish to run the file, click "Run" and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
4. Close all anti-virus and anti-malware programs on your computer. Before you begin to run Malware Bytes, it is imperative that you close all other programs that attempt to catch malware such as viruses, spyware and ad programs. Multiple malware detectors will interfere with each other and lead to false positives.
5. Click on the Malware Bytes icon from your desktop to launch the program. Click on "Scan Now" and select "Full Scan" from the list. The scan may take several hours depending on the amount of data saved on your computer. Allow the program to finish the process and follow the on-screen instructions to remove the keystroke loggers. This will also remove the files created by keystroke loggers, which is where your keystrokes will be stored.
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