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Welcome To
The Better Systems Podcast!
 
May 1, 2010 Show Notes (PodcastIT013):
"Should I just reinstall my operating system when I have a
virus?"
That is a good question. There are several things to determine first
to better answer your question. First, are you paying a technician
to do this or are you doing it on your own? If you are doing it on
your own, try the anti-malware programs that we suggested in other
Better System Podcast Episodes and see how they work for you. If you
can't run them, the malware may be preventing you from running them
(some malware are really advanced and won't allow the name brand,
most popular software to run at all), you may have to reinstall the
operating system. However, there are still other tricks to try
first.
Check your Restore Point and change to a different date - I would
suggest a few days before you noticed the malware infestation. Once
your system reboots, go into Safe Mode and then run your
anti-malware software from there. You should experience some luck
here. If not, don't panic. You can always call an experience
technician to help you out.
When calling a Technician, you will need to know if they are
charging you by the hour, or for a flat fee. If it is a flat fee,
ask what they will do to remove the malware. At this time, you can
tell them what you had done up to that point so that the technician
will know you have done some things to resolve the issue. If they
then suggest running more anti-malware programs that they have, make
sure it is part of the flat rate - you don't want to be paying per
hour for someone to run up to 3 anti-malware programs as what you
are waiting for is mostly wait time. That is, run one - wait an
hour. Run the second - wait an hour. Run the last -wait an hour. You
just paid for 3 hours work for only 15 minutes of actual Technician
time. Any technician worth their weight in gold will be honest and
tell you this. While your computer is running anti-malware programs,
they are on another computer resolving the issues with that one. We
highly recommend that for anti-malware infections, to use a
technician that offers a flat rate.
Another thing to ask the Technician is if all your viruses will be
removed. If they say that what they do in running their anti-malware
software will remove all 100% of the viruses, please look elsewhere.
Back to the Technician worth their weight in gold - he will tell you
that there is no software, or combination of software, that will
remove all your malware and that there could still be traces left in
your computer. This does beg the question as to why even run the
anti-malware programs and not just reinstall the operating system?
The answer is that although your system will not be 100% free from
infection, their procedure should be good enough to 1) allow you to
operate on a day to day basis, and 2) not allow any latent
infestation to activate and cause more issues, and 3) not allow any
malware program to continue running that will send personal
information to some other computer. This last part may cause fear
and trembling in your part, then a reinstallation of the operating
system is the only thing that will guarantee that the infestation
will be gone. This also means reformatting of the hard drive prior
to reinstallation - otherwise known as "Nuke and Pave" or "Scorched
Earth Reinstallation". You get the picture.
If you do find a technician that will run the anti-malware programs
for a flat fee, ask them if they charge for a reinstall if the
anti-malware programs, or other techniques fail. Most will charge
for the reinstallation on top of the anti-malware removal. However,
there are some that will include it with their flat rate. Hourly
Technicians will charge per hour so if you ask them to reinstall,
the clock just keeps ticking. If you do decide to perform the
reinstallation at any time, please also ask if they do a backup of
your files, and then reinstall your files at the time of
reinstallation. Ask if they backup to media (CD or DVD) if you can
have it in case you remember later that that the file is in a
different location than your "My Documents" folder. Again, this
brings up another issue with reinstallation, do you have a backup
yourself just in case this happens. If so, this is not as much an
issue as it could be. For example, if you have a special program to
document all your old Vinyl Records, and the file is located in the
folder where the program is located, a simple backup of just your
"My Documents" folder will cause the file to no longer exist! "Bye
Bye Miss American Pie"! I suggest paying for a full backup if you
have to pay.
Another thing to consider when doing a full reinstallation is if the
technician will be reloading all your old software. This means that
you will have to have a list of all your old software as well as the
disks or download locations to run them. This can become very
expensive to pay someone else to do when in all likely hood, you can
just do this yourself on your own time. Most Technicians will charge
you for this service hourly.
The last thing to think about with a full reinstallation is if you
know what operating system you have and if you have the original
disk, or at least the files are in the partition in your hard drive
to create it from (for example this is how HP computers will give
you the original operating system). Also make sure that you have
your Operating System Product Key either on a sticker attached to
your computer case, or on an original disk. Even though a Technician
can get your operating system loaded without this, it would help
tremendously in getting your system up and running faster.
"Better System Tech Tips": If you can not bear the idea of the
possibility of having any traces of malware in your computer, then
please reinstall your operating system, but make sure you have your
backups first. You would hate to lose your precious pictures or
needed files to be lost forever. Remember, reinstallation is the
only way to assure that you will be infection free.
However, if you are OK with the possibility of having the traces
still in your computer, but won't affect your day to day operation
or compromise your personal information, then run the anti-malware
route. You can always go back to the "Nuke and Pave" option later.
Finally, when hiring a Technician, make sure that you have all your
costs noted up front so that you won't be surprised. Your failure to
do so, and getting a $400 bill when you expected a $100 bill, may
cause more stress in your life than the initial malware infestation!
Check Out Our Other Show Notes!
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