How To Recover From a Virus or Adware Infected PC

[googlee07]

I currently do NOT use any antivirus or anti adware type software.
I'm pretty computer savvy, practice good email / download etiquette,
have my router fw and know the processes in my task manager pretty
well. To my knowledge I've only been bit once in 7 years of heavy
internet use by adware that created havoc on my computer. I was
fortunate to be able to get in and kill the process enough in task mgr
before it spawned more processes that would prevent me to getting to
system restore to bring the pc back to an unaffected state.

My question is this:

If you don't already have AV or anti adware software already installed
on your system and you get a virus that makes it impossible to do
anything meaningful on the win desktop, how would one be able to clean
up the system? What tools or basic steps would one need to take?

Do recovery CD / live disks exist for this kind of thing? Can anyone
recommend one?

Does windows xp provide any mechanism to (safe mode???) boot into a
non viruse'd system and THEN install a PC cillin or SpySweeper etc and
run it to clear out the offending binaries and then reboot as normal
[this assumes per my notion above that the PC would be so far gone
that i wouldn't be able to install AV sw or do anything meaningful
with it in a normal boot]

Am i making sense. It's kind of like a catch 22 question.

I'm curious how pros attack this in the real world because i'm the
defacto PC guru for friends and family. Many don't run AV type sw and
I know i'm going to get hit with the task of restoring some day in the
future. In fact, i might get bitten myself and have to restore my own
foobar'd system.

thanks

 

[Gordon]

I currently do NOT use any antivirus or anti adware type software.
I'm pretty computer savvy,

then you are obviously NOT "pretty computer savvy". it is the height of
selfishness NOT to use any AV at all - there is NO POSSIBLE WAY that you can
be 100% confident that any file you receive whether by email or floppy or CD
is virus-free. there is also the possibility of drive-by infection as well.
this attitude of "I don't need an AV app" is why the internet is awash with
spam sent from bot computers like yours that have been compromised unknown
to you.
get an AV program ASAP.

 

[Grand_Poobah]

--->

then you are obviously NOT "pretty computer savvy". it is the height of
selfishness NOT to use any AV at all - there is NO POSSIBLE WAY that you can
be 100% confident that any file you receive whether by email or floppy or CD
is virus-free. there is also the possibility of drive-by infection as well.
this attitude of "I don't need an AV app" is why the internet is awash with
spam sent from bot computers like yours that have been compromised unknown
to you.
get an AV program ASAP.

Amen

 

[David Starr]

I currently do NOT use any antivirus or anti adware type software.
I'm pretty computer savvy, practice good email / download etiquette,
have my router fw and know the processes in my task manager pretty
well. To my knowledge I've only been bit once in 7 years of heavy
internet use by adware that created havoc on my computer. I was
fortunate to be able to get in and kill the process enough in task mgr
before it spawned more processes that would prevent me to getting to
system restore to bring the pc back to an unaffected state.

My question is this:

If you don't already have AV or anti adware software already installed
on your system and you get a virus that makes it impossible to do
anything meaningful on the win desktop, how would one be able to clean
up the system? What tools or basic steps would one need to take?

Do recovery CD / live disks exist for this kind of thing? Can anyone
recommend one?

Does windows xp provide any mechanism to (safe mode???) boot into a
non viruse'd system and THEN install a PC cillin or SpySweeper etc and
run it to clear out the offending binaries and then reboot as normal
[this assumes per my notion above that the PC would be so far gone
that i wouldn't be able to install AV sw or do anything meaningful
with it in a normal boot]

Am i making sense. It's kind of like a catch 22 question.

I'm curious how pros attack this in the real world because i'm the
defacto PC guru for friends and family. Many don't run AV type sw and
I know i'm going to get hit with the task of restoring some day in the
future. In fact, i might get bitten myself and have to restore my own
foobar'd system.

thanks

When Windows gets sufficiently bent out of shape that keyboard
control is lost, there are two ways to recover.
1. Boot up off a CD or a floppy. The windows CD ought to boot, at which
point you can do what the pro's do, re install windows.
2. Pull the harddrive, install it in a good machine and run anti virus
what/ever from the good machine's C; drive.

Two problems will rise up to strike up. Firstly, antivirus isn't
effective without internet access. You have to download the latest
virus definition files from the maker's website. These files change
daily as new malware is discovered. The files that come on the anti
virus CD are months old and so don't list the new viruses, and you can
pretty much count on the virus you caught to be brand new.
Tother problem, few computers come with Windows CD's any more, which
makes it tough to re install.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I currently do NOT use any antivirus or anti adware type software.
I'm pretty computer savvy, practice good email / download etiquette,
have my router fw and know the processes in my task manager pretty
well.

All of those things are good to do whether or not you use security
software.

To my knowledge I've only been bit once in 7 years of heavy
internet use by adware that created havoc on my computer.

Then you've bitten once more than I've been, and I *do* use such
security software.

In my view you are being foolhardy. None of us is perfect, and
regardless of how careful you are or how prudent your behavior is,
there is always a risk of getting infected. Using security software
isn't perfect either, but it can *substantially* decrease the risk.

Over and above the dangers to your own computer, by not using security
software, you also put at risk the computers of other people you
correspond with.

I was
fortunate to be able to get in and kill the process enough in task mgr
before it spawned more processes that would prevent me to getting to
system restore to bring the pc back to an unaffected state.

My question is this:

If you don't already have AV or anti adware software already installed
on your system and you get a virus that makes it impossible to do
anything meaningful on the win desktop, how would one be able to clean
up the system?

That depends entirely on what particular piece of malware you get
infected with. Sometimes anti-virus software works after the
infection, sometimes that are special-purpose tools to remove
particular infections. Worst case (and it sometimes happens) there is
no remedy other than reformatting and reinstalling cleanly.

I'm curious how pros attack this in the real world because i'm the
defacto PC guru for friends and family. Many don't run AV type sw and

Forgive me for being blunt, but if your friends and family follow your
example, and you are the "guru" responsible for their running without
security software, they need to get a new guru.

I know i'm going to get hit with the task of restoring some day in the
future. In fact, i might get bitten myself and have to restore my own
foobar'd system.

If you are concerned with getting bitten, then why don't you run
appropriate security software?. You are like someone who walks through
fires and wants to know a remedy for getting burnt. You don't need a
remedy; you need to stop walking through the fires.