Virgin Media Internet Security - Page 2

Milambar · 06-05-2011, 16:55

The best improvement to a PC's performance, is the removal of VMS. Just saying.

As for a virus/trojan, the only way to be 100% sure that its gone, is a reinstall of the OS from clean sources. However, for most people, Malwarebytes does an excellent job of cleaning a system. I've found the free version of Malwarebytes able to remove stuff that my full, paid-for version of KIS2011 can't.

roughbeast · 06-05-2011, 17:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigj2k11

they do if you restore the system to a date before the nasties are present

Yeah, but the nasty could be anywhere. For instance, if it is in the boot sector a complete reformat and system re-installation won't get rid of it.

Neo-Tech · 06-05-2011, 17:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigj2k11

they do if you restore the system to a date before the nasties are present

Wrong. Most sophisticated viruses and trojans infect System Restore points too.

In my opinion, remove all the Virgin crap, install Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes Antimalware and you should be good.

craigj2k12 · 06-05-2011, 20:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neo-Tech

Wrong. Most sophisticated viruses and trojans infect System Restore points too.

In my opinion, remove all the Virgin crap, install Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes Antimalware and you should be good.

depends on the virus really, the more advanced ones can affect restores, but they only usually affect windows restore, any other backup program seems to work better, and you can put the backup on a disc or usb drive or whatever

---------- Post added at 21:15 ---------- Previous post was at 21:14 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by roughbeast

Yeah, but the nasty could be anywhere. For instance, if it is in the boot sector a complete reformat and system re-installation won't get rid of it.

are you saying that the boot sector doesnt get formatted? i dont think so

roughbeast · 06-05-2011, 20:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigj2k11

depends on the virus really, the more advanced ones can affect restores, but they only usually affect windows restore, any other backup program seems to work better, and you can put the backup on a disc or usb drive or whatever

---------- Post added at 21:15 ---------- Previous post was at 21:14 ----------

are you saying that the boot sector doesnt get formatted? i dont think so

A simple reformat deleting partitions will not get rid of boot sector viruses, especially where folk have hidden boot sectors and the like; the sort that some pre installed versions of Windows have from companies like Dell. Fdisk / mbr followed by a complete reformat will totally wipe a disc.

Nopanic · 06-05-2011, 22:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by roughbeast

A simple reformat deleting partitions will not get rid of boot sector viruses, especially where folk have hidden boot sectors and the like; the sort that some pre installed versions of Windows have from companies like Dell. Fdisk / mbr followed by a complete reformat will totally wipe a disc.

Deleting the partitions will remove everything .. as the pre installed windows will be on a partition ..

craigj2k12 · 06-05-2011, 23:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nopanic

Deleting the partitions will remove everything .. as the pre installed windows will be on a partition ..

boot sector is just a regular partition, its only hidden by windows

pip08456 · 07-05-2011, 00:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nopanic

Deleting the partitions will remove everything .. as the pre installed windows will be on a partition ..

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigj2k11

boot sector is just a regular partition, its only hidden by windows

Quite true. But if you wanted to go overboard you could perform a low level format back to RAW state and then re-format with either NTFS of FAT32 depending on your windows OS.

Nopanic · 07-05-2011, 07:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigj2k11

boot sector is just a regular partition, its only hidden by windows

Did you just agree with me ?

roughbeast · 07-05-2011, 10:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by pip08456

Quite true. But if you wanted to go overboard you could perform a low level format back to RAW state and then re-format with either NTFS of FAT32 depending on your windows OS.

I think that is what I was recommending, just to be sure. Why just use a belt when you can wear braces as well? Fdisk / MBR then reformat.

pip08456 · 07-05-2011, 10:59

By recommending Fdisk you are also advocating the use of FAT16/FAT32 rather than the more stable NTFS.

craigj2k12 · 07-05-2011, 11:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nopanic

Did you just agree with me ?

no, i was agreeing with myself, did you say the same as me? you must have agreed with me!

---------- Post added at 12:27 ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by roughbeast

I think that is what I was recommending, just to be sure. Why just use a belt when you can wear braces as well? Fdisk / MBR then reformat.

dont forget your tinfoil hat

if you can pm me with a link to any virus/trojan/malware/anything that can survive when you format the hard drive, i will load it onto my computer, just to format it to prove you wrong

---------- Post added at 12:30 ---------- Previous post was at 12:27 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by pip08456

By recommending Fdisk you are also advocating the use of FAT16/FAT32 rather than the more stable NTFS.

the only reason FAT should be used over NTFS is if you are using Windows 95/98/Me, which you shouldn't be!

besides the fact that FAT is less secure than NTFS in the first place, you would be using an unsupported operating system, with old software not up to date with providing protection against the latest nasties

NTFS also lets you use file compression, and drive read/write speeds are quicker under NTFS

adzii_nufc · 07-05-2011, 13:34

If someone were to create a virus that could not be removed via formatting..

I think he would aim a bit higher than infecting a machine with Virgin Internet Security

Quote:

if you can pm me with a link to any virus/trojan/malware/anything that can survive when you format the hard drive, i will load it onto my computer, just to format it to prove you wrong

Nothing is Impossible... Although I doubt it would be your average Virus

craigj2k12 · 07-05-2011, 13:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by adzii_nufc

If someone were to create a virus that could not be removed via formatting..

I think he would aim a bit higher than infecting a machine with Virgin Internet Security

Nothing is Impossible... Although I doubt it would be your average Virus

when a hard drive is formatted, everything is wiped completley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_formatting

pip08456 · 07-05-2011, 13:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigj2k11

the only reason FAT should be used over NTFS is if you are using Windows 95/98/Me, which you shouldn't be!

besides the fact that FAT is less secure than NTFS in the first place, you would be using an unsupported operating system, with old software not up to date with providing protection against the latest nasties

NTFS also lets you use file compression, and drive read/write speeds are quicker under NTFS

I wasn't advocating to use of this outdated tech.

It is also worth noting that companies (eg, Hewlett Packard, Dell et al) were supplying XP to home users on a FAT32 platform for a few years.(it will work on it,).