02-12-2011 at 11:57 AM
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#1
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Account Disabled by User
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HDD Wipe
I suspect that my laptop has been infected with spyware. Ive already tried scanning to try to remove, but it doesn't get detected. But its quite obvious its there. There is some sensitive information on the laptop and I feel it necessary to perform a complete wipe. I have the recovery disk provided by the manufacturer (bloatware and all).
My question is:
Would it suffice to simply boot the laptop's recovery disk and reset to factory settings? (Would this get rid of the unwanted ware)
OR
Should I write 0s over my drive with something like DBAN and then try to recover from there?
I am weary of the second option as there is a recovery partition on the HD and I'm afraid that if I write 0s using DBAN then recovering with the manufacturer's disk will no longer be an option.
If anyone can help with this, that'll be great.
Thank you.
Last edited by ...?! : 02-12-2011 at 12:07 PM.
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02-12-2011 at 12:13 PM
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#2
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Community Engagement Officer
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Yeah, the reset should take care of things. Just make sure to back up any important files you don't want to lose first (game save data, school work, etc.).
...?!
says thanks to REPLEKIA/. for this post.
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02-12-2011 at 12:16 PM
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#3
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Account Disabled by User
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Quote:
Originally Posted by REPLEKIA/.
Yeah, the reset should take care of things. Just make sure to back up any important files you don't want to lose first (game save data, school work, etc.).
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The thing with that is idk where the malware is. But thanks for the response, nothing on my HD is worth risking backing up anyway; I can just redo the school work. |
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02-12-2011 at 12:30 PM
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#4
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Community Engagement Officer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ...?!
The thing with that is idk where the malware is. But thanks for the response, nothing on my HD is worth risking backing up anyway; I can just redo the school work.
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Malware usually targets folders everyone has, such as the windows folders. Your school work is almost assuredly perfectly safe to back up.
...?!
says thanks to REPLEKIA/. for this post.
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02-12-2011 at 01:04 PM
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#5
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Elite Member
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Try antivirus, anti-malware scans. If no go, try system restore, if no go, use DBAN and nuke it lol
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Electrical Engineering Alumni
...?!
says thanks to blackdragon for this post.
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02-12-2011 at 01:12 PM
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#6
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Oink! Oink! Oink! Oink!
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If you are afraid of getting bloatware again from recovery disk. Then I suggest you to freshly install a Windows version yourself.
That way, you can pick and choose what you want to be installed. Drivers, programs, etc...
...?!
says thanks to PHLN for this post.
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02-12-2011 at 04:18 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PHLN
If you are afraid of getting bloatware again from recovery disk. Then I suggest you to freshly install a Windows version yourself.
That way, you can pick and choose what you want to be installed. Drivers, programs, etc...
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Yup. Just download the version of windows that you have off a torrent site and simply use your product key found at the bottom of the laptop.
...?!
says thanks to Juicebox for this post.
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02-12-2011 at 06:33 PM
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#8
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Android Dev
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Just make a backup of all the important things, wipe your HDD, install Ubuntu from a Live CD, download an AV on Ubuntu, run a scan on the backup AND the wiped HDD, remove/clean the infected things from the backup and then wipe the HDD again and install Windows :p
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Afzal Najam - Honours Computer Science grad
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02-12-2011 at 06:39 PM
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#9
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Sometimes helpful
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Afzal
Just make a backup of all the important things, wipe your HDD, install Ubuntu from a Live CD, download an AV on Ubuntu, run a scan on the backup AND the wiped HDD, remove/clean the infected things from the backup and then wipe the HDD again and install Windows :p
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oooooh
proxy scanning |
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02-12-2011 at 06:51 PM
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#10
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02-12-2011 at 06:58 PM
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#11
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Elite Member
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02-12-2011 at 07:07 PM
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#12
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Account Locked
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02-12-2011 at 09:11 PM
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#13
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Elite Member
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Get SUPERAntiSpyware - best ive used... and trust me ive tried many of them, lol.
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Electrical Engineering Alumni
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02-12-2011 at 09:15 PM
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#14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Afzal
Just make a backup of all the important things, wipe your HDD, install Ubuntu from a Live CD, download an AV on Ubuntu, run a scan on the backup AND the wiped HDD, remove/clean the infected things from the backup and then wipe the HDD again and install Windows :p
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Or forget the install Windows part altogether and stick with Ubuntu.
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-Stefanie Walsh-
4th Year Multimedia 2010-2011
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02-12-2011 at 11:57 PM
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#15
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Android Dev
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sew12
Or forget the install Windows part altogether and stick with Ubuntu.
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Considering he's in business, I doubt that he would want to...an intro to the new [better] filesystem can scare some.
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Afzal Najam - Honours Computer Science grad
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