Re: [Hampshire] Boot disk/liveCD for Windows recovery?

Vic wrote:
>> Okay, joking aside there are a quite a few Windows boot discs on offer
>> here[1], and IIRC there are a few HOWTOS that will tell you how to
>> modify them so that (in theory) you can run something like AVG with the
>> latest def's on there.
>>
>
> I wasn't completely joking...
>
> If I were recovering the machine, I'd grab user data off using the FC7
> LiveCD, and then nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
>
> Attempting to rebuild compromised machines is usually more work than a
> fresh install, and often less effective; given that AV is generally a
> reactive process (i.e. it only works once signatures have been derived for
> live exploits), you can't be sure that your machine is clean. Given the
> (virus-ridden) state before a rebuild, there's too strong a chance of a
> compromise surviving the rebuild for my taste.
>
> Customers don't like this story - they've been told that Windows is Easy,
> whereas Linux is Hard. But the fact of it is that the reason many people
> see Windows as Easy is because they donm't actually do any of the work -
> that's left to us lot, often unpaid. And that's why, with a very few
> exceptions, I no longer work on Windows boxes for free.

Well, I guess I wasn't clear because I think we are talking about the
same thing, and I was more conscious of my initial reply to Andy being a
wisecrack than yours Vic, and wanted to contribute something useful.

I agree that a very long pole would certainly be in order, but I am not
sure I would go further than deleting all of the partitions and starting
over with a fresh install, which is what I consider to be a rebuild,
rightly or wrongly. I certainly wouldn't bother to try and 'clean' the
infected machine and only mention the malware, AV and patching in terms
of prevention rather than cure. Like I say it works here.

Considering most of my 'users' are either minors (9, 12, 15 & 15) or
totally disinterested in technology (that'd be the wife) we do
remarkably well. I have only ever had one true virus (my fault - I
naively connected to patch a new Win95 build without a firewall back in
the days of dial-up), and a couple of malware infections - toolbars and
the like - picked up by the kids. Since I turned them on to Firefox the
latter have gone away and the I haven't been so daft as to connect a
Windows box to the Internet without a proper firewall sitting in between
since I got broadband. These days the kids ask before they use IE, and
only then if it is an educational site that won't play nice with Firefox!

My daughter has taken one step further and ditched Windows in favour of
Ubuntu and gets on very well with it. The boys like to play the sort of
games that Linux doesn't, so they hang on to their build in the
knowledge that Dad hates Windows and irresponsible boys who rob him of
the weekend by clicking on stupid ads and the like. Seems to work quite
well as a general approach.

Sean