Running AntiVirus or Format and Reinstall Windows?

Discussion in 'Software' started by Professor-Falken, Oct 3, 2008.

  1. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    Don't go buddy - this forum needs active participants!

    I think you're slightly overreacting here. You can certainly have discussions about things where people have a difference of opinion (e.g. Microsoft vs Linux, AMD vs Intel etc. etc.) However, when you say things that are just wrong (no question about it) then you've got to accept that people who know (and I mean know) differently to you are going to let you know. That's how everybody learns things - without it there would be a lot of ****e spread around teh intarnetz taken as gospel.

    The fact that BM mentioned he trained as a 'spook' is most certainly not irrelevant to this thread - since it seems to have deviated from the original poster's query and moved into an area where the majority of the posts have been regarding, at least in part, forensic data recovery (which, at the levels we're talking about, is universally performed by ridiculous expensive machines that only government and law enforcement agencies have access to)

    Finally, I don't think BM is trying to 'one up' anyone. He's a valued member of the community here and is very experienced - more even than a fat old timer like me. I've had disagreements with him and have voiced my opinion on a number of occasions when my own view don't tally with his.

    Don't go!
     
    Certifications: A few
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  2. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    Back OT.....

    I have the best solution of all, when dealing as a private hire to deal with someones issues:

    Offer the Client the Choice - Tell them that there are two ways you can handle it: 1) You wipe the machine (retrieving their files first) and reimage, or 2) you attempt to remove the virii.

    Inform them that 1 is the easiest, and cheapest solution, and virtually guarantees the removal of the malware. The Downside being that they will need to take the time to reinstall all their applications again, and anything they forget about will be lost.

    Inform them that 2 is much more time consuming (and expensive), and that there is always a chance that it cannot be completely removed leaving no other choice but 1 anyway.

    Then let them decide. If they are happy to pay your salary/callout fee to spend a lot of time trying to fix it. Thats their choice. You get more money, they feel happy to have made a decision about how their money is spent.

    At the end of the day, it really is the customers choice, isnt it?
     
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  3. Mathematix

    Mathematix Megabyte Poster

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    Thank you, BM! :biggrin
     
    Certifications: BSc(Hons) Comp Sci, BCS Award of Merit
    WIP: Not doing certs. Computer geek.
  4. Mathematix

    Mathematix Megabyte Poster

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    Teebor is patronising, actually. When he thought that he was correcting me he felt the need to stamp his authority by saying that he used to have a data recovery role. This actually shocked me, given that he actually has very little idea of how data is propagated and stored on media such as harddrives and how viruses can circumvent such mechanisms.

    He is not the first person that I have come across on this forum whose ego means more to them than explaining fact over fiction. It is annoying! :x
     
    Certifications: BSc(Hons) Comp Sci, BCS Award of Merit
    WIP: Not doing certs. Computer geek.
  5. somabc

    somabc Bit Poster

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    If anyone is interested this is how I normally try and remove Viruses / Spyware (note: I do not do it for money and it normally takes up to a day of scanning / rescanning)

    1. Run Anti-Virus Scan from a Live Linux Rescue CD
    http://www.f-secure.com/linux-weblog/2008/06/19/f-secure-rescue-cd-300-released/

    2. Boot into safe mode and run combofix
    http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix

    3. Either install decent anti-virus scanner or use bit-defender online scanner
    http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html

    4. Run Autoruns and remove anything suspicous
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

    5. Run Super Anti-Spyware
    http://www.superantispyware.com/

    6. Repeat Virus scan - confirm no viruses found

    7. Repeat Spyware Scan - check no spyware present

    8. Install ALL windows security updates / update JAVA etc


    If all good hand the PC back and tell them there are no guarantees that they still do not have a virus / rootkit. As BM says once infected there are no guarantees.

    I will sometimes ghost and reinstall but nobody ever has their Windows CDs to hand so I will try the above a lot of the time. Oh and always virus scan the backed up data don't reinstall and just hand it back to them as obviously they will reinfect themselves.
     
    Certifications: BSc MBCS
    WIP: MSc, PRINCE2, ITIL

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