Is reformatting an acceptable way for a professional to deal with spyware/viruses?

[dullard]

It depends. Most of the time, a simple virus software/spyware scan takes little labor and can solve the problem. Thus it is best not to reformat.

But sometimes, it'll take 5-10 hours of hard labor to track down all the ways to remove all the last traces of a heavilly infested computer. With most places charging $25+ an hour, that heavy virus removal often costs more than the whole computer is worth. I personally feel it is unprofessional to charge someone a repair bill greater than the value to just replace the item with a new item. If this is true, a simple reformat recommendation may save the customer a lot of money. It is unprofessional to choose the more expensive option.

 

[exilera]

A backup might not work so well. It's possible you'll carry over a virus in the backed up files and transfer it to a fresh OS. Make sure you scan the backup before you transfer files.

 

[radioouman]

Originally posted by: jgivens
A reformat is the best way on a system like that. Who knows... all it takes is one thing to be left behind.

That is true. I've cleaned up systems and the next thing I know, they are all infected again mainly due to something that I've missed.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: PHiuR
this is when you say,

look buddy, stop looking at porn.

If you're getting spyware and viruses looking at pr0n, you're doing it wrong.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: flexy

People are "attached" to a certain state of the system because it usually takes MONTHS from a virgin install to the state my PC is right now, loaded up with viruses and spyware due to the sheer stupidity displayed by the owner during standard daily use

Fixed.

 

[Engineer]

Sometimes, it's the only way.

 

[CaptainKahuna]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Nail.exe is a funny one... delete it, and two seconds later it's recreated. You can literally delete it, and watch it pop right back where it was in the Explorer window. Delete it again, watch it come back. Look in the recycle bin and see two copies of it in there, lol. Got rid of it though. All together I've spent about 2.5 hours on it, not counting when I start a virus scan and walk away for a half hour.

The trick with nail is that it installs itself in the registry as the first command the explorer.exe shell runs when it is called by windows at boot.

Where it specifies which shell to use, it changes it from "explorer.exe" to "explorer.exe nail.exe".

Take that extra " nail.exe" off the end, reboot, delete it, you're set.

 

[PingSpike]

You have to sort of assess the situation before you get to far into it. I just start out with a scan and remove with an antivirus, spybot and adaware. If those don't get them, and there's still a boatload left I might recommend a total reinstall. I had some nasty ones the other day, user tried to fix her spyware problem by downloading a bunch of "spyware scanners" which most likely contained plenty of spyware themselves. After spending an hour and a half trying to clean it all off, I just used the restore disks.

A thing you have to remember is just running the scanner and even removing the software doesn't always leave the machine squeaky clean. spybot is pretty good, but sometimes it'll leave half gutted programs behind and the system needed a bunch of much more difficult repairs.

Reinstall is the tactical nuke, you don't use it on like 5 soldiers...you use it to blow up an army.

 

[drnickriviera]

http://www.ubcd4win.com/
Spyware/Virus removers best friend

 

[NuclearNed]

I think I am correct in saying that there are some viruses that will not be eliminated from a system by a reformat. If a virus is in the boot sector, a reformat won't touch it.

But I could be wrong.

 

[Rapidskies]

First of all you are charging not even close to what you should be for doing what your doing. We charge $100 an hour to clean up viruses and crapware but tell them from the start it can be potentially much much cheaper just to reload the system. If you were charging a decent amount for your work the user would be more apt to tell you to format the drive. And reloading is not "unprofessional" it is smart. It will save you time and your client money. Another good reason for doing this is when they get reinfected they can't say it was something you "missed" and you should be fixing it for free.

If it were my personal machine I would take the time to clean it, but you really can't do that with every customer's pc if you are charging a decent amount.

 

[bonkers325]

i like the reformatting option, it gives a clean slate to work with. but they'd probably just mess it up again, so why bother? i formatted my friend's comp b/c she always downloads junk... installed spyware removers and antiviruses. a week later, she complains about viruses and pop-ups. i check out the computer and lo' and behold, she turned off the AV and spyware protection. :thumbsup:

 

[Tommunist]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
I think I am correct in saying that there are some viruses that will not be eliminated from a system by a reformat. If a virus is in the boot sector, a reformat won't touch it.

But I could be wrong.

never heard of this...

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
I think I am correct in saying that there are some viruses that will not be eliminated from a system by a reformat. If a virus is in the boot sector, a reformat won't touch it.

But I could be wrong.

I've heard of bootsector viruses, but I've never seen one "in the wild" before. Most bios software usually has some sort of protection against them you can turn on.

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: Tommunist

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
I think I am correct in saying that there are some viruses that will not be eliminated from a system by a reformat. If a virus is in the boot sector, a reformat won't touch it.

But I could be wrong.

never heard of this...

I'm pretty sure its correct.

 

[EKKC]

charge him at least 30 bucks an hour. 15 an hour is what you charge when its a job. if its a one time thing, learn to charge more.

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
I think I am correct in saying that there are some viruses that will not be eliminated from a system by a reformat. If a virus is in the boot sector, a reformat won't touch it.

But I could be wrong.

I've heard of bootsector viruses, but I've never seen one "in the wild" before. Most bios software usually has some sort of protection against them you can turn on.

Its been a while, and my memory is getting a little fuzzy in my old age, but I'm positive that I've had a boot sector virus that I picked up at my college in the 90's. My recollection is that I attempted a reformat to no avail - it took a professional AV product to remove it.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: OdiN
I think that saying "let's just reformat it" is the easy, unprofessional way out. Anyone can format a drive and start over.

I agree with you. I know people who will basically reformat at the drop of a hat. I won't do it unless absolutely nothing else will work.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
I think I am correct in saying that there are some viruses that will not be eliminated from a system by a reformat. If a virus is in the boot sector, a reformat won't touch it.

But I could be wrong.

I've heard of bootsector viruses, but I've never seen one "in the wild" before. Most bios software usually has some sort of protection against them you can turn on.

Its been a while, and my memory is getting a little fuzzy in my old age, but I'm positive that I've had a boot sector virus that I picked up at my college in the 90's. My recollection is that I attempted a reformat to no avail - it took a professional AV product to remove it.

I had one years ago, this little bastard.

Only virus I've ever had.

So they definitely exist, though I haven't seen one in ages. Plus I'd be somewhat surprised if it would have survived being zapped.

Viper GTS

 

[OdiN]

Yeah I've only gotten one virus...Blaster on my laptop...because I just happened to turn it on the same day that the virus came out and it had been off for a long time so wasn't updated.

 

[TTM77]

From what you describe, seem like this pc has too many problems. It's time to clean house. Tell the guy that with the reformate, his pc will run faster and much cleaner... also it's a chance he can clean out what he do not want. But if he insist on keeping his sh*t, tell him to buy new hard drive and install new OS on new hard drive and use this old one like a storage.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
I think I am correct in saying that there are some viruses that will not be eliminated from a system by a reformat. If a virus is in the boot sector, a reformat won't touch it.

But I could be wrong.

I've heard of bootsector viruses, but I've never seen one "in the wild" before. Most bios software usually has some sort of protection against them you can turn on.

Its been a while, and my memory is getting a little fuzzy in my old age, but I'm positive that I've had a boot sector virus that I picked up at my college in the 90's. My recollection is that I attempted a reformat to no avail - it took a professional AV product to remove it.

I was going to say I thought they were much more common back during maybe DOS and early win9x eras. I can't remember if the bios virus protection on most new machines prevents them (seems unlikely...) or just makes your computer wig out when something tries to write to the boot sector.

 

[Gravity]

I fixed my bro=inlaw's computer that was super infected with all kinds of crap. I did it so I didn't have to go to his house and re-establish his e=mail accounts and DSL. They still don't know how to do that.

He normally likes to stand right above me and burp the entire time I'm there.

It can be done but I don't think it's a best practice.

 

[alkemyst]

What I do. First turn off system restore.

Now I carry a USB drive with adaware, spybot s&d, grisoft AVG on it.

I run those...first AVG, then the other two.

I then remove any wierd objects in startup, under the run and run once entries in the registry, and any odd objects in the browser.

Total time out of my day is about 15-30mins. I require the machine brought to me.

I charge $50-75 for this depending on friend or not.

Once the PC is clean I turn back on sys restore.

I have not had to reformat yet even machines with dialers, and 1000+ spyware entries.

I have had to go into safe mode a couple times to remove certain applications though.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: dullard

With most places charging $25+ an hour, that heavy virus removal often costs more than the whole computer is worth. I personally feel it is unprofessional to charge someone a repair bill greater than the value to just replace the item with a new item. If this is true, a simple reformat recommendation may save the customer a lot of money. It is unprofessional to choose the more expensive option.

I agree.

I used to deal with these problems all the time, and the fastest way was to reformat. While it's not the "1337" way or the "proper" way according to some people, you have to consider the element of cost. Why pay hundreds of dollars to fix a computer that is probably a few years old? They could buy a new one from Dell for only a little bit more. If their computer is more modern, then fixing it could be better.

If they're a good friend then spent the day BSing with him and fix it the long way. But if it's business, make the smart business decision.