Despite being ultra careful, not opening emails from people I don't know ( and some I do), not downloading stuff and having Kaspersky anti virus constantly updated and running all the time I got a really nasty trojan. The computer guy threw all his software at it and couldn't get rid of it so my hard drive had to be replaced. Fortunately I had a lot of my important stuff on an external HD. Just thught I'd pst this as a little reminder to those who are lax with their backup's. Merl

Despite being ultra careful, not opening emails from people I don't know ( and some I do), not downloading stuff and having Kaspersky anti virus constantly updated and running all the time I got a really nasty trojan.
The computer guy threw all his software at it and couldn't get rid of it so my hard drive had to be replaced.
Fortunately I had a lot of my important stuff on an external HD.
Just thught I'd pst this as a little reminder to those who are lax with their backup's.
Merl

Ive just had to replace my hard drive for the very same reason. :(

Ive just had to replace my hard drive for the very same reason.

A lot of these things can be spread via removable drives and open file shares - Can you be sure that your externals are free from infection too?

A lot of these things can be spread via removable drives and open file shares - Can you be sure that your externals are free from infection too?

That's bad news Andy - hope you managed to keep your photographs safe. Yes thanks James, I've had everything tested and they've put a better anti virus on for me. I'm not leaving any of the external stuff plugged in, in fact I'm at paranoid level right now.

That's bad news Andy - hope you managed to keep your photographs safe.

Yes thanks James, I've had everything tested and they've put a better anti virus on for me.
I'm not leaving any of the external stuff plugged in, in fact I'm at paranoid level right now.

[quote]Ive just had to replace my hard drive for the very same reason.[/quote] Viruses are made up of code so if the hard drive was securely file shredded to remove all files why is it that a physical hard drive requires replacement. Is there a new breed of virus out there? ... a CJD prion type that embeds intself into the physical structure of hard drive platters... if so this is new to me

Quote:Ive just had to replace my hard drive for the very same reason.


Viruses are made up of code so if the hard drive was securely file shredded to remove all files why is it that a physical hard drive requires replacement. Is there a new breed of virus out there? ... a CJD prion type that embeds intself into the physical structure of hard drive platters... if so this is new to me

I used to work for a company that both removed and created malware and similar items for government. Once something gets on your system, it is best to start over even if the original malware could be removed. Once your system is compromised, all sorts of new and as-of-yet undetectable nasties could have been placed onto it by the malware creators. It hurts to re-install everything, but in the end, you can be pretty confident that you are starting safely. Lost my entire music collection (50G+) due to multiple drive failure on my server a few years ago. Backups were kept in the same machine and all drives blown to bits by power spike. Motherboards fried, data on disk damaged beyond repair. Ouch... As for backups, I've been pretty happy with off-site storage. i.e. Carbonnite and BackBlaze to name a couple. I now have several backups for music and photos at home (linux server in another room, NAS drive downstairs, RAID next to my PC), but should a very nasty virus require I wipe all my drives or shared drives (server and/or NAS drives), I should be able to go back to offsite versions. Not to mention possibility of flood, fire or theft for which no local backup would be much help. For the price of disk recovery, $50/year is not a lot. Sorry for sounding like an ad. Just wanted to add that as a suggestion for keeping your precious data safe.

I used to work for a company that both removed and created malware and similar items for government. Once something gets on your system, it is best to start over even if the original malware could be removed.
Once your system is compromised, all sorts of new and as-of-yet undetectable nasties could have been placed onto it by the malware creators.
It hurts to re-install everything, but in the end, you can be pretty confident that you are starting safely.

Lost my entire music collection (50G+) due to multiple drive failure on my server a few years ago. Backups were kept in the same machine and all drives blown to bits by power spike. Motherboards fried, data on disk damaged beyond repair. Ouch...

As for backups, I've been pretty happy with off-site storage. i.e. Carbonnite and BackBlaze to name a couple. I now have several backups for music and photos at home (linux server in another room, NAS drive downstairs, RAID next to my PC), but should a very nasty virus require I wipe all my drives or shared drives (server and/or NAS drives), I should be able to go back to offsite versions.
Not to mention possibility of flood, fire or theft for which no local backup would be much help.

For the price of disk recovery, $50/year is not a lot.
Sorry for sounding like an ad. Just wanted to add that as a suggestion for keeping your precious data safe.

[quote]Ive just had to replace my hard drive for the very same reason.[/quote] An important reminder to all - backing up is one of those things it's so easy to forget about until something goes wrong and sometimes it's too late then, eh? But as carrot_heid says - what kind of virus makes a HD un-usable??

Quote:Ive just had to replace my hard drive for the very same reason.


An important reminder to all - backing up is one of those things it's so easy to forget about until something goes wrong and sometimes it's too late then, eh?

But as carrot_heid says - what kind of virus makes a HD un-usable??

Depends if the boot sector of the drive is infected or not [quote].....they've put a better anti virus on for me.[/quote] What is the better anti virus, please Merl? jas

Depends if the boot sector of the drive is infected or not


Quote:.....they've put a better anti virus on for me.


What is the better anti virus, please Merl?

jas

[quote]What is the better anti virus, please Merl? [/quote] F-Secure Client Security - apparently it's 'industrial strength' Kaspersky didn't stop the virus/trojan but it did pop up a message saying there was a password protected file in the C drive backup but it disappeared before I could make a note of it. Just in case anyone else gets this particular problem it at least gives you a starting point. The company I took the computer to are sizeable and have lots of corporate clients so I'm assuming they're competent.

Quote:What is the better anti virus, please Merl?



F-Secure Client Security - apparently it's 'industrial strength'

Kaspersky didn't stop the virus/trojan but it did pop up a message saying there was a password protected file in the C drive backup but it disappeared before I could make a note of it.
Just in case anyone else gets this particular problem it at least gives you a starting point.
The company I took the computer to are sizeable and have lots of corporate clients so I'm assuming they're competent.

I hate to say it, but it F-secure didnt get a very good review [link=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2253687,00.asp]here[/link]

I hate to say it, but it F-secure didnt get a very good review
here

[quote]why is it that a physical hard drive requires replacement.[/quote] Just what I was thinking. Are you guys saying that even a complete re-format is not enough to rid the drive of any nasties? Steve

Quote:why is it that a physical hard drive requires replacement.

Just what I was thinking.

Are you guys saying that even a complete re-format is not enough to rid the drive of any nasties?

Steve

[quote]Are you guys saying that even a complete re-format is not enough to rid the drive of any nasties?[/quote] Did not work for me vista took ages to load in the end a new hard drive was fitted.

Quote:Are you guys saying that even a complete re-format is not enough to rid the drive of any nasties?


Did not work for me vista took ages to load in the end a new hard drive was fitted.

If you use FDISK, FORMAT utilities, or DELETE there is always a possibility to recover deleted files. Deleting a file just removes that filename from the file directory, so unless the sector is overwritten by another file then even these commands can leave traces of a file which could be a virus. There are free secure delete utilities available via a google search. If you are going to format a drive because your system has a virus that you can't get rid of then it is best to secure file shred the drive in case a virus is left on the drive. McAfee anti-virus has a shredder in the tools section but there are many open source programs out there

If you use FDISK, FORMAT utilities, or DELETE there is always a possibility to recover deleted files. Deleting a file just removes that filename from the file directory, so unless the sector is overwritten by another file then even these commands can leave traces of a file which could be a virus. There are free secure delete utilities available via a google search. If you are going to format a drive because your system has a virus that you can't get rid of then it is best to secure file shred the drive in case a virus is left on the drive. McAfee anti-virus has a shredder in the tools section but there are many open source programs out there

[quote]Did not work for me vista took ages to load in the end a new hard drive was fitted.[/quote] Your drive sounds as if it was failing physically anyway. A virus wouldn't damage the drive physically..... unless of course somebody knows different. I not denying that it would be impossible.... just highly unlikely that a virus could cause physical failure of a drive.

Quote:Did not work for me vista took ages to load in the end a new hard drive was fitted.


Your drive sounds as if it was failing physically anyway. A virus wouldn't damage the drive physically..... unless of course somebody knows different. I not denying that it would be impossible.... just highly unlikely that a virus could cause physical failure of a drive.

Another good reason to back everything up AND keep your programme disks in one place. My computer has been reloaded with the programmes I had but they're more up to dat and nothing works in the way the old programmes did. I've spent 3 hours trying to get 4 A5 cards printed, and I'm feeling very sorry for myself :(

Another good reason to back everything up AND keep your programme disks in one place.
My computer has been reloaded with the programmes I had but they're more up to dat and nothing works in the way the old programmes did.
I've spent 3 hours trying to get 4 A5 cards printed, and I'm feeling very sorry for myself