Ask HN: My home was burglarized today but my computer is still here

Here is the weird thing, my office room while having been thoroughly searched still contains all of the electronics. The computer (a really good gaming machine), dual monitors (large), keyboard, mouse are all still here.

Also, my computer was on and I don't have a lock screen on it (I live alone and don't do any work from home on it--though I regret now that it didn't have the lock-screen activated).

So I'm feeling super paranoid. I'm in the process of updating all my site passwords (mostly managed by lastpass). But I'm concerned some kind of keysniffer or other invasive software could have been installed.

It seems unlikely--but this room remains too intact for it not to be suspicious.

I'm on win7, SP1. What are some good (trustworthy) tools I can scan my computer with.

Does anyone know of any concerns or precautions I should take, short of reformatting (which now that I think about it sounds really good).

Thanks in advance.

Some things for you to ask yourself: Do you work for a government agency? Is it possible for secret documents to be on your machine? Do you work for a high profile company? Is it possible for trade secrets to be on the machine?

What's the worst that could happen if the data is compromised? Will you die? Will you go to jail? Will your company lose millions of dollars?

> What are some good (trustworthy) tools I can scan my computer with.

There are none. Once you think your machine has been compromised the only safe course of action is to wipe and re-install, and then very carefully restore data from back-up.

Check for hardware tampering too - hardware keyboard grabbers are cheap and easy to fit.

Don't forget that burglars have different styles - they don't just rob everything. Some burglars will just steal jewellery and leave everything else; others will grab everything technical and leave everything else. And the burglars might have been disturbed in the process of robbing the house.

Any time you're infected with malware or strongly suspect you are, this is what you should do. It doesn't take that much time, plus you'll probably notice a big speed boost after you install the OS from a clean slate.

It'll take you way less time and effort than being paranoid and downloading all kinds of virus scanners and rootkit finders, while also being way more effective.

A hardware keylogger or spy device is extremely unlikely. If you don't see anything between the keyboard and the computer that shouldn't be there, odds are you're fine.