Hi there - Unbiased AV test site

[jimbo45]

Hi all
I think anybody who'se interested in security should at least read some of the papers from this site.

About.com: http://www.av-test.org/
Also have a read of this

http://www.virusbtn.com/news/2008/09_02

And another -- although in Dutch the table is clear enough

http://security.nl/artikel/22931/1/...Data,_Avira,_F-Secure_en_Norton_bovenaan.html

Whilst not W7 per se it's to do with security and could be relevant to your installations.

At least it contains a lot of decent info and hopefully give some peole a bit more understanding into exactly how some of the AV software works and what it's trying to detect.

BTW if you DO get your computer infected in any way you should boot a READ ONLY live CD which can not only format the entire disk but also properly erase it by writing HEX '00's on every cluster / sector as well as refreshing the MBR (Sector 0).

I've sometimes in the past had to recover data from a re-formatted disk -- recover deleted pictures from a photo shoot etc. - and it's not as difficult as you think. There's a lot of decent "Data recovery" stuff out there so apart from a Low level factory reformat which is probably "Militiary grade security" the binary zero's write erase is the next best option as you will have written on every single data area on the disk.

"Traditional" cleansing isn't really good enough since on the case of "re-infection" the virus can use a lot of these "unformatting" methods to read the data and do whatever it was doing before

I wouldn't trust ANY AV software product to be able to cleanse your computer as effectively as doing the "destructive" erase.



Cheers
jimbo.

 

[Uber Philf]

Crap, im scared now :shock:

Enzo.

 

[Jacee]

ENZO why are you scared? Tell us what you're experiencing so those of us who have knowledge in security can help.

It's easy enough to protect your OS from malware "if" you want to.

 

[Uber Philf]

im like freeking, about the MBR possibly being infected and that sometimes factory restore cant get rid of some malware :S

Enzo.

Eh, i aint worried, i rarly have a virus unless i make the same dumb mistake i did before..

 

[Jacee]

I don't understand what you're saying .. "factory Restore" certainly won't get rid of an MBR - Master Boot Record
Boot sector virus repair

 

[Uber Philf]

yeha, thats what i mean, thats its possible a virus can infect the MBR, and when i do a factory restore, if my MBR is infected, im FKD., i dont think it is tho, so yeah..

Enzo.

 

[Captain Zero]

I run ESET Nod 32 the x64 version (4.0.424.0) and absolutely love. Enough to buy a 3 year subscription! The first version 4 had compatibility issues with W7 but this new one is flawless and the Action Center/Security Center integration is seamless.

 

[Jacee]

yeha, thats what i mean, thats its possible a virus can infect the MBR, and when i do a factory restore, if my MBR is infected, im FKD., i dont think it is tho, so yeah..

Enzo.

So, this RC 7100 is still a "beta" ... You need to do a "clean" install. You can download the ISO from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/
Use ImgBurn The Official ImgBurn Website to create a DVD. Install Win7 RC 7100 on your machine. Do not try to do an 'update' ...

 

[darkassain]

and if you want you can backup your mbr...
there are many utilities that can do this...
im not endorsing any of course...
but for recovery testdisk/spinrite (not recovery but under the right situation it can be...) is the best out there...
that one i do endorse...

 

[Uber Philf]

A. I already have W7 RC x64
B. Ill have a look into that



Enzo.