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Old 08-11-2007   #7 (permalink)
cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)
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Re: Another Admin Problem

On Mon, 6 Aug 2007 01:04:02 -0700, Ben Bennett

>Thanks for the advise Ronnie, i'll give that a try.


It's an irreversible process, so if you're going to "try" it, it's up
to you to maintain an Undo trail (and be sure it will work!)

>"Ronnie Vernon MVP" wrote:


>> This is just my own opinion. Once a virus compromises a system, your best
>> option is to format the drive and then start completely over again.
>> Cleaning up after a virus attack can sometimes only get rid of the
>> "symptoms" and not actually repair all of the damage.


I don't really agree with that; not because cleaning always works, but
because a default re-build doesn't always stay clean either.

I think it depends on the baseline, and with Vista as young as it is,
that baseline is probably fairly safe.

OTOH, consider an XP PC with this history:
- built with XP Gold in 2003
- HD upgraded to 200G in 2005
- installation imaged over, resized as one big 200G C:
- kept patched by automatic update
- protected by resident av, regular updates
- gets infected in 2007
- user told to "just" wipe and rebuild...

Can you guess what happens next?

See: http://cquirke.mvps.org/reinst.htm


>-- Risk Management is the clue that asks:

"Why do I keep open buckets of petrol next to all the
ashtrays in the lounge, when I don't even have a car?"
>----------------------- ------ ---- --- -- - - - -

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