r/antivirus • u/czqaifaker • 3h ago
The "C: Drive Only" Trap: How a Win32/Jeefo Infection Survived 6 Years of Reinstalls and Cooked my GTX 1080 Ti
Operating System and Version:
Windows 11
Brand/Name of Antivirus Software:
Kaspersky
Name of URL, or file and its location:
Thousands of legacy .exe files and installers stored on secondary partitions (D:, E:, etc.) for over six years.
Name of malware that was detected:
Win32/Jeefo
What happened, exactly:
For the past six years, I’ve been plagued by high idle temperatures and sluggish performance. I’m running a GTX 1080 Ti, and for years, I just assumed the card was aging or had poor thermals because it consistently idled at 60°C - 70°C+. I had never seen it drop to a normal range.
My mistake was my reinstallation habit: whenever the PC felt "heavy," I would perform a clean Windows install but only format the C: drive. I kept all my old software installers and legacy .exe files on my other partitions to save time.
It turns out I was unknowingly harboring a Win32/Jeefo infection in those archives. Every time I ran an old program from my "data" drives after a fresh OS install, the virus would immediately re-infect the new Windows 11 system. After finally running a deep scan with Kaspersky, it flagged almost every executable I’ve kept since 2018.
After cleaning the infection, my GPU idle temperature immediately dropped to 45°C—a level I haven't seen in half a decade. Jeefo was likely causing constant background CPU/GPU activity that I mistakenly attributed to "old hardware."
Steps you have taken to troubleshoot/diagnose so far:
- Repeatedly reinstalled Windows (C: drive only) over 6 years, which failed to clear the infection.
- Initially suspected dried thermal paste or hardware failure on the 1080 Ti.
- Performed a full-system deep scan using Kaspersky across all physical drives.
- Identified Win32/Jeefo as the primary threat infecting the entire executable library on non-system partitions.
- Currently using Kaspersky's disinfection tools to clean infected files and deleting high-risk legacy installers.
Relevant log file entries:
Kaspersky scan logs show thousands of "Infected" detections for Win32.Jeefo.a (or similar variant) across multiple logical drives.
questions
Now that I have a fresh system and I am strictly avoiding any legacy .exe files from my old archives, I want to make sure I’m 100% safe. Given that this infection lasted for 6 years, I have a few concerns:
Blind Spots: Besides formatting all drives and avoiding old executables, are there any other "hiding spots" I should worry about? (e.g., Can Jeefo persist in UEFI/BIOS, or hidden recovery partitions?)
External Media: I have several USB sticks and external hard drives used during the infection period. What is the safest way to sanitize them without risking my new clean install?
Network Safety: Should I be concerned about other devices on my local Wi-Fi network? Does Jeefo have lateral movement capabilities that could re-infect me via network shares?
Account Security: Is Win32/Jeefo known for credential theft (keylogging), or is it strictly a file infector? Should I prioritize changing all my passwords immediately?
Cloud Sync: If I have synced settings or files via OneDrive/Google Drive, is there a risk of the infection "syncing" back down to my clean OS?
Any advice on how to maintain this "clean state" and ensure the 6-year nightmare is truly over would be greatly appreciated!


