Hidiing from viruses.

[SturmteK]

Hello Friends.
Rescently, when I turned on my PC, I was greated to a spybot-worm virus. I have reformatted my PC, but all my stuff that I wanted to backup, was lost.
When you get a virus on your PC, Is everything infected? (I mean files)
There is few files which I would like to keep, but when my computer gets infected, I am afraid to copy them to a cd or whatever, to load them once the PC is clean.
Can you guys tell me, is there any safe way of doing this?
I guess what I am trying to ask is is there any way to "hide/protect" certain files on the computer from being infected with a virus, that I can safley copy them from a infected PC onto a CD perhaps, so that once the computer is clean, when the backed up files are loaded, the virus wont tag along as well.

Thanks

 

[poertner_1274]

Chances are good that if you have a file you created it won't have a virus in it. But you can always get the most recent version of McAfee or Norton, etc. and keep it updated and scan with it. That way it will detect and eliminate viruses as they come around. I would say that you would be ok transferring over your old data, as long as it isn't an attachment from an email that you are transferring.

 

[SNGX1275]

I'm continually concerned with reports like this and its finally built up for me to say something. It may not be the case here, but it may help others that happen to read this thread, or at the least spawn people that read this thread to think of this when they see similar inqueries.

If someone just says they have a message saying they are infected with something.... Well the first question, and MOST important is what program informed you of this message? If it wasn't your antivirus software then there is a great chance you are NOT infected with what it says, espically if it just says generically a worm or a virus. The popups look like normal Windows windows, if you are using an alternative browser you can notice this as an attempt to get you to click on something, but it is more misleading in IE because it will look like something official when you don't see the difference in the window appearances.

Just something to consider.

 

[SturmteK]

Yes. I do use Norton AV. Its always updated to the newest version.
But the virus/worm I got a few days ago, WITHOUT downloading any files, (I cought it guessing by one of the sites where you enter, and are bombarded with a 100 windows and it asks you to set it to your start page. By answering "no" it will send you a virus) was only detected by Norton and the AV could not fix it.

 

[AdrianScotter]

I would just like to reiterate what SNGX1275 has said in that if something (Email, pop-up etc) gives you explicit instructions on where to find a file and exactly how and what to delete even if it is from your mum, best friend, favorite auntie or computer whizz neighbour (and even the odd red faced techie!) think VERY carefully before you do as they are almost certainly a hoax. Always go take a look at http://securityresponse.symantec.com/ where most stuff is mentioned on this page and if not there is a search button down and left. Most virus writers these days just want to propagate their virus as fast and as far as possible out in the wild. For that reason they write their own smtp client into the virus and with the advent of more and more DSL connections (broadband) these virus' can be retransmitted at phenomenal speed! I have seen over 100 virus infected Emails sent PER SECOND from a corporate PC that didn't use an anti virus product! (Yes, even some companies don't use anti virus software, not just home users). Adrian.

 

[Nodsu]

Also, unsecured IE will let anyone install almost anything on your system without you knowing about it or any chance to stop it.

Go over your IE security settings very carefully, avoid fishy websites or use something else then Internet Explorer.