Malware spread from 2nd HDD?

Discussion in 'Malware Help - MG (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by yeeha, Jun 19, 2008.

  1. yeeha

    yeeha Private First Class

    I'm about to wipe the main hard disk on my desktop. The second hard disk is large and contains about 100gig of stuff I can't be bothered to back up. I use only free security software and I'm not perfect about updating it so I'm operating under the assumption my computer could be infected without me knowing it even though the whole array of security programs (AVG Free 8.0, Spybot, Adaware personal, Javacool Spyware blaster, zonealarm) report nothing.

    If I DON'T wipe the 2nd hard disk, but instead wipe and install a pristine OS and security setup on the C disk before reconnecting the 2nd hard disk, am I safe? Will, for example, an AVG Free installation on the C disk be able to detect/remove/prevent infection by malware that may be left over on the D disk? Without having Windows or any programs on the D disk, is there much infection risk to begin with?

    Is wiping both disks the only truly safe option ?

    What about burning discs of patches, virus updates, etc? I am assuming that if I don't know whether my system is infected, direct Internet download AFTER the reinstall will be the only way to safely apply virus updates and XP service packs.

    Any commentary on this for a novice would be much appreciated.
     
    yeeha, Jun 19, 2008
    #1
  2. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Not necessarily.

    Again not necessarily. It depends on what the infections are an whether they are detectable. This is assuming there are any infections.

    What do you mean by programs?? Many files can contain infections. Anything considered an executable file can have infections. This includes and is not limited to avi, com, dll, exe, mp3, wmv, jpg, gif, pdf, scr, dat.....and more types of file extensions.

    Truthfully the answer is this correct, but in most cases it is not necessary. If you want guarantees than do not backup anything, delete all partitions, recreate new partitions, format and install.

    Make sure you have updated versions of all your protection software on a CD also download updates (some are manually updateable) for these to install updates before going online. If you make a slipstreamed version of Windows XP SP3 and install from that, you will not need any updates to the after the install (at least not very many).
     
    chaslang, Jun 20, 2008
    #2

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