"Leythos" <> wrote in message news:
snip

You can boot to command prompt (maybe not Vista)
and format the disk, why not? Format may work in
Windows mode even. The ultimate boot CD has
tools for formatting also.

snip again

What do you do to 'wipe' in a clean environment?

A good backup could restore a system to an earlier
point, like Ghost or Nero Backitup. The original
poster could at least copy what he wants off the
drive and then format and re-install from his
restore disks that he made when the system was
new.

In article <6h6u04l870rtu03skul4042imfhemsi5s9@4ax.com>, SomeoneElse
(not@telling.com) says...
Malware is just a program, it can be any program, and it often inserts
itself in other programs - so, when you open Word/Open Office it may
have replaced part of the exe so that it launches itself and then
finishes Word/Open Office so that you never see it active.

We will never "certify" a compromised machine as clean unless we wipe it
in a clean environment, we will never certify a machine as clean by
using any malware removal tools/cleaners - they are reactionary and only
clean what they can find and the newest malware is not detected quickly.

Your method helps, but it's not even close to securing your machine.

ISP's will suspend accounts of people with infected machines when their
systems are spreading the malware/emails via the net, it's common.

Yes, you can format a drive, not low-level format without additional
tools, but you can remove the partitions, wipe it, and then rebuild as
though it was a clean disk.

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In article <ZwJPj.9552$GE1.6555@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com>,
russgilb@MUNGEsbcglobal.net says...
Clean, meaning no other computers, no inbound connections, etc...

Most people don't even know what a Backup is let alone have a good one.

What makes you think that a person would have an old enough backup to
have not also backed up the infection?


--
- Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
- Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a
drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"
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"Leythos" <> wrote in message news

snip

Last time I needed a backup, it was 4 months old.
But we aren't doing that much important stuff. I try
to backup important stuff (turbotax files eg.) on my
D: drive, and zip disks. So, if one is having a malware
issue, you probably know about when you got it.
I don't discard old backups either, so if the four month
old one I have is a problem, I can go back eight months.
One problem with backups is you never know if they
work until it is too late to fix it. My Nero Backitup
wouldn't work from the boot DVD. I had to boot
UBCD and start Dr. DOS from the Seagate drive
utility, then the nrestore.exe would run successfully.

In article <F0PPj.280$To6.112@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net>,
russgilb@MUNGEsbcglobal.net says...
That would be your problem - I test backup media weekly, each week we
take a random tape from that weeks pool and test restore a few
folders...

We also use full verify on all backups.

A backup is only as good as you make it.

--
- Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
- Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a
drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"
spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)