52 replies to this topic

[Haggis]

If the user is having to bring a computer to you to remove an infection a user will beleive almost anything you tell them

[xWhiplash]

Haggis, on 21 November 2012 - 16:40, said:

If the user is having to bring a computer to you to remove an infection a user will beleive almost anything you tell them

So....it is a lie to say formatting gives more of a guarantee? Shane himself even said if there are rootkits or if it is severe, formatting is a better way to go.....I just tell them the truth, I do not say "Oh I am the best malware removal expert EVER and can make sure your computer is NOT infected when it leaves here". Nobody is perfect at their jobs, and if you are having an off day, you can really mess up a client if you miss something. It not just because "you cannot do your job", some people just have off days.

A format eliminates that, so please stop getting on my butt about choosing to do a format, geez.

[+warwagon]

This was recorded back in 2008. Back then and early the infections really did seem to do a lot more to your system than today's infections. Today's infections usually put an exe file and run it on startup and give you a rootkit, but all of these seem far easier to remove than some infections previous to 2008, where even after the malware was removed redirection were still occurring.

[Haggis]

Haggis, on 21 November 2012 - 11:00, said:

As sais before there is a massive difference between a production machine that should have nothing personal store don it that can just be wiped and an image restored to doing that with a home machine

Its not hard to remove malware it can be challenging sometimes but i find that all part of the fun

If i sent my pc to a shop to be cleaned and all they did was format it i would be raging

xWhiplash, on 21 November 2012 - 16:47, said:

So....it is a lie to say formatting gives more of a guarantee? Shane himself even said if there are rootkits or if it is severe, formatting is a better way to go.....I just tell them the truth, I do not say "Oh I am the best malware removal expert EVER and can make sure your computer is NOT infected when it leaves here". Nobody is perfect at their jobs, and if you are having an off day, you can really mess up a client if you miss something. It not just because "you cannot do your job", some people just have off days.

A format eliminates that, so please stop getting on my butt about choosing to do a format, geez.

lol i am not getting on your butt about formatting i was just giving my view/opinion on it, thats allowed right?

General malware i would remove but yeah as you say more advanced stuff a format could well be better

[xWhiplash]

warwagon, on 21 November 2012 - 16:54, said:

One thing I will say, that back in 2008 and early the infections really did seem to do a lot more to your system than today's infections. Today's infections usually put an exe file and run it on startup and give you a rootkit, but all of these seem far easier to remove than some infections previous to 2008, where even after the malware was removed redirection were still occurring.

I would still format even with today's infections. As Steve says, you can never trust the machine again once it gets infected. And giving that back to a client that does their banking and taxes is just being risky.

[+warwagon]

xWhiplash, on 21 November 2012 - 17:01, said:

I would still format even with today's infections. As Steve says, you can never trust the machine again once it gets infected. And giving that back to a client that does their banking and taxes is just being risky.

All of these people who say they would be ****ed if someone formatted their machine. So these "Computer Experts" would feel comfortable doing online banking on a machine that had previous been infected, regardless if the infection was removed? That just boggles my mind. Security aware much?

[Shane Nokes]

xWhiplash, on 21 November 2012 - 16:47, said:

So....it is a lie to say formatting gives more of a guarantee? Shane himself even said if there are rootkits or if it is severe, formatting is a better way to go.....I just tell them the truth, I do not say "Oh I am the best malware removal expert EVER and can make sure your computer is NOT infected when it leaves here". Nobody is perfect at their jobs, and if you are having an off day, you can really mess up a client if you miss something. It not just because "you cannot do your job", some people just have off days.

A format eliminates that, so please stop getting on my butt about choosing to do a format, geez.

Just to clarify...what I said was that if someone is working on a machine and they are not 100% confident in their removal skills, then a complete wipe and reinstall would be best.

I had that rootkit scenario actually come up on this machine earlier this year. A friend was checking their e-mail, and clicked a link they shouldn't have.

I managed to completely clean the machine and didn't reinstall anything on it until Win8 came out...so I ran it for a few months after cleaning it out.

warwagon, on 21 November 2012 - 17:04, said:

All of these people who say they would be ****ed if someone formatted their machine. So these "Computer Experts" would feel comfortable doing online banking on a machine that had previous been infected, regardless if the infection was removed? That just boggles my mind. Security aware much?

It's a practice I follow with my own machines. Like I said...I have a machine that is setup purely to be infected...so I can keep my skills up to par on the new stuff that comes out...and I haven't had to do a format on that machine in a long time.

[Matt Plant]

I agree use CCleaner and Malwarebytes always works fine for me