I repair and rebuild Windows machines for a living. These are the artifacts I use to work out what actually happened on a compromised PC — where they live on Windows 11, what each one proves, and how the attack that created them works. Every lab names the build it was verified on and the authorization it assumes.
13 labs
Windows records that a program ran in at least six separate places, and they do not agree with each other. Here is what each artifact actually proves on Windows 11, and which one to trust.
Windows keeps a permanent record of every USB storage device ever attached, including serial numbers and first-connect times. Here is where it lives on Windows 11 and how to read it.
A fast, ordered pass over a Windows 11 machine you think is compromised, using only free tools. What to check, in what sequence, and how to tell a real finding from normal noise.
SRUDB.dat records how much data each application sent and received, hour by hour, for around 30 days. It is the only standard Windows artifact that ties a program to network volume.
Three Windows artifacts get treated as interchangeable evidence that a program ran. Only one of them actually proves it. Here is what each records on Windows 11 and how to read them together.
Windows Firewall can log every allowed and dropped connection, but the logging is off by default. Here is how to turn it on, read the format, and find outbound traffic that should not be there.
A .pf file records how many times a program ran and the last eight times it happened. Here is how to read Prefetch on Windows 11, and the three ways the evidence misleads you.
A new service and a new scheduled task are the two most common ways malware survives a reboot on Windows. Both are logged. Here is how to read those events and separate them from normal software installs.
Security event 4624 records every successful logon, but the Logon Type field is what makes it useful. Here is what each type means on Windows 11 and which ones should make you look twice.
How a persistent scheduled task is planted on Windows 11, demonstrated in an isolated lab, and the exact registry keys, XML files, and event IDs it leaves behind for a defender to find.
RDP, TeamViewer and AnyDesk each leave a different trail on Windows 11. Here are the exact event IDs, log files and registry keys that show who connected, when, and from where.
A safe Windows 11 analysis VM with no route to your network or the internet, using Hyper-V that is already on your machine. No second PC and no paid software required.
Amcache stores the SHA-1 of executables Windows has encountered — including ones already deleted. Here is how to parse it on Windows 11 and what its entries do and do not prove.
Where Windows records what happened: execution evidence, registry hives, filesystem metadata, and the devices that were plugged in.
Reading the Windows event log like a witness statement: which IDs matter, how to turn on the ones that are off by default, and what each one proves.
How attackers survive a reboot on Windows, and the exact artifacts each persistence mechanism leaves behind.
Turning an artifact into something that alerts: what to watch, what is normal noise, and how to tell the two apart.
What left the machine and where it went: firewall logs, remote-access artifacts, and command-and-control traffic patterns.
Building the isolated Windows environment the rest of these labs assume, using free tools and no separate hardware.
If you just need malware removed, a scam call identified, or BitLocker turned on, the consumer guides are the better starting point.
Security & privacy guides in Tips & Fixes