virus software question

I dont have a problem right now but just have a question - I have wondered about this before.

If you anit-virus finds a problem (I have AVAST) and move it to chest what should happend then?.
If it deletes it - does it remove eveything that need to be removed?

On some of the forums, it seems tht removal instuctions for viruses are very invovled. Just wondering if it takes manual intervention to remove a viurs or if the anti-virus sofrware does all it needs to.

Fay

It all depends on the virus or malware, Fay. In quarantine (virus or malware chest), the virus/malware is harmless if it has been completely removed. Items in quarantine should be googled to find out what they are and if they are a false positive or not. Your antivirus or antispyware app may say it has removed/deleted something but the next scan finds the item again. Some malware multiplies itself. In that case, you may need a special removal tool or manual removal instructions to get rid of it. You must google what it found and try to find specific applications or removal instructions for getting rid of it. If you make regular backups, like with Macrium Reflect, it may be easier to just reformat the C partition and restore the backup than to try to get rid of a really difficult and persistent malware.

Repa

That is kind of what I expected you to say. Not what I hoped but what I expcted.

Hope I don't have to deal with it, but want to be ready if I do , so I have a couple of other questions.

My computer came with a C:\partion and a SYstem partition that does not have a drive letter.
I created other partitions for my data.
If I decided it would be easier to just restore from an image, rather than trying to remove an infection, what all partitions would I need to restore.

Is C: enough - or I am thinking I would probably need to restore the System partiton also?
Would there be any need to restore my data partitions. They also contain some apps I wrote myself in Visual Foxpro.

I don't do the image creation often. (I do back up my data frequently).
So would creating a new image after I install new software be enough?

Thanks,
Fay

fay47 wrote:

My computer came with a C:\partion and a SYstem partition that does not have a drive letter.
I created other partitions for my data.
If I decided it would be easier to just restore from an image, rather than trying to remove an infection, what all partitions would I need to restore.

Is C: enough - or I am thinking I would probably need to restore the System partiton also?
Would there be any need to restore my data partitions. They also contain some apps I wrote myself in Visual Foxpro.

I don't do the image creation often. (I do back up my data frequently).
So would creating a new image after I install new software be enough?

Thanks,
Fay

Macrium Reflect will create an image of all the partitions on your hard drive simultaneously, whether or not they have a drive letter, or you can select which one(s) to do. It might be a good idea to do that once just in case you lose the entire hard drive. Usually, doing the C:\ partition occasionally is enough if you frequently backup your data partition. You could create a new C:\ image each time you install new apps if that is what you want to do. Some documentation I read says the latest free version of Macrium Reflect will do incremental and differential backups, but the macrium website doesn't indicate that, so I don't know which is true. If it does do incremental image backups, then you can do more frequent backups because the time to do incrementals is a whole lot less than the entire partition or hard drive. I have downloaded the latest version and when I install it, will give that a try to see if it works or not. But, it might be a while before I do, as this is a busy time for us until the end of the year.

Anyway you look it it, there is some work involved in keeping your system backed up to close to its current state, but it's worth it if Windows becomes corrupt or you lose your hard drive.

Repa,

Thanks for that information but I was not clear about about what I was asking.

In one of the above posts in talking about removing viurses/malware you said:

Quote :

If you make regular backups, like with Macrium Reflect, it may be easier to just reformat the C partition and restore the backup than to try to get rid of a really difficult and persistent malware.

Since I have multiple partitions, in order to get rid of the infection, would I need to restore them all, or just the C or the C and system? Could I just leave the other partions alone?.
I'll probalby go ahead and include all of them in the image in case of disk failure, but I think with Macrium I don't have to restore all of them unless I want to.

I don't need you to do any research for me at this time. Just trying to get some information for the future and tyring to understand a little more. Just trying to pick you brain for what you already know.

Thanks
Fay

fay47 wrote:

Since I have multiple partitions, in order to get rid of the infection, would I need to restore them all, or just the C or the C and system? Could I just leave the other partions alone?.
I'll probalby go ahead and include all of them in the image in case of disk failure, but I think with Macrium I don't have to restore all of them unless I want to.

I don't need you to do any research for me at this time. Just trying to get some information for the future and tyring to understand a little more. Just trying to pick you brain for what you already know.

Thanks
Fay

Usually malware will infect the C drive. That's not to say the other partitions won't be affected, just not usually. You should be able to find in your scanner logs whether or not the malware is restricted to the C drive or not. The scanners usually identify in their log reports where the malware is found. If just the C drive, then you would restore that partition, but run scans afterward to be sure it was just the C drive.

Reap,

Ok, I hope I never have that problem, but just wanted to know in case.

Thanks,
Fay