OT- PC Virus And Format Hard Disk Question.

Astral Fridge Magnet · Mon Dec 25, 2006 10:57 am

Hello,

Excuse the basic and OT question, but maybe there are some tech heads out there who can help/explain.

Now I am not 100% sure, but I could have a virus. I want to wipe my hard disk and restore an image. So, will formatting my hard disk truly get rid of a virus. By the way, I realise that it won't get rid of a "boot virus", but if I have one a virus it's not that type.

My other question is that seeing I had my supposed virus on my C drive, could it spread to my D drive. What are the chances of that happening? So to be double sure, should I also format my D drive too? Assuming that is a format will get rid of any remnants of horrible things.

Any help/explanation will be greatly be appreciated.

Thanks

Astral Fridge Magnet · Mon Dec 25, 2006 1:42 pm

Thanks for your reply Stardust. Where can I get the linux emergency disk from? Got any links please?

Thanks

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 2:30 am

I'd recommend getting yourself a decent virus scanner! In that way, you should be able to determine whether or not you have any virii and where they are located. You should also make sure that your windows installation is completely up-to-date (using Windows Update).

The AV software should also be able to disinfect your machine, negating the need for a hard drive re-format.

I'm not sure myself whether or not there are any Linux-based AV software which can detect Windows virii..? However, when I need to boot into Linux to fix a 'windows problem' I usually use Knoppix - the entire OS comes as a bootable CD ROM.

www.knoppix.org/
www.knoppix.net/

HTH,

Royston

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 7:19 am

stardust wrote:cross platform viri.

Now THAT is some code I'd like to see!

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:00 pm

stardust wrote:Knoppix is a good choice.
i have received mine with a PC magazine. they often put that CD/DVD as an add on to the magazine.

either that, or you could try the Ultimative Boot-CD http://ubcd4win.com/ .
or build yourself one from the BartPE site. a windows based cd has the advantage of (almost flawless) nfts access.

knoppicillin (as provided by the german c't magazine) would be an alternative (linux/knoppix based), too, if you can get hands on it. it's not downloadable due to some legal issues (afaik)...

-greetings, markus-

bassdude · Post by **bassdude** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 2:35 pm

BartPE works really well for a windows recovery system. I have setup a BartPE disk for recovery and added plugins for disk imaging for backups. All for free of course!

See this post:-

http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20914

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 5:15 am

stardust wrote:Hmm ,,, it is nothing new
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/16629

Yes, I know it is a german article.
It talks about a Virus in 2001 that infects windows and Linux.

http://www.tecchannel.de/news/themen/linux/436518/

The second id e.g. from 2006

comprende ?

So, about one every five years..?

As far as I understand it, most of the cross-platform virii which have been written were really only ever done as a proof of concept exercise.

They would necessarily be limited in scope as the virus would be limited to functions available on both/all operating systems that it is intended for. Also, it would need to be written in assembler, so as not to reply on any operating system-specific calls.

I would be FAR more worried about OS-specific virii myself

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 7:42 am

Are they fully up-to-date with the latest virus signatures though? i.e. are these bootable linux distributions really kept that up to date?

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:29 am

Ah, nice one thx