Can Malware Trash Disk?

I am putting together a backup strategy and looking at the possible threats.
It once used to be said that a virus could trash a HD, damage the mbr, etc.
In which case I would need to reformat.
However, I have not heard of a virus doing this for some years. Do I not
now need to be concerned about this threat?

thanks Davy

Shenan
Mon Feb 06 13:34:55 CST 2006

Davy wrote:
> I am putting together a backup strategy and looking at the possible
> threats. It once used to be said that a virus could trash a HD,
> damage the mbr, etc. In which case I would need to reformat.
> However, I have not heard of a virus doing this for some years. Do
> I not now need to be concerned about this threat?

If you followed common sense computing - you would already have that threat
covered.

Antivirus, AntiSpyware, Backups, CHKDSK, Defragmentation, keeping your
system clean of unneeded installations, updated hardware drivers (from the
manufacturer) and keeping it up to date with OS and applications patches..

It has little to do with a particular threat - just smart computing and
proper maintenance. Then you cover all bases.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

David
Mon Feb 06 15:35:50 CST 2006

From: "Davy" <david@REMOVETHISchobham.org.uk>

| I am putting together a backup strategy and looking at the possible threats.
| It once used to be said that a virus could trash a HD, damage the mbr, etc.
| In which case I would need to reformat.
| However, I have not heard of a virus doing this for some years. Do I not
| now need to be concerned about this threat?
|
| thanks Davy
|

Sure can. Take the CIH (aka; Chernobyl) on its payload date it would trash data on the
disk. There are many others. Use of NTFS may eliminate many of threats. Use of anti virus
in "On Access" mode will also mitigate such threats.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

alun
Mon Feb 06 23:03:04 CST 2006

In article <po-dnRieh5nNAHreRVnysw@brightview.com>, "Davy"
<david@REMOVETHISchobham.org.uk> wrote:
>I am putting together a backup strategy and looking at the possible threats.
>It once used to be said that a virus could trash a HD, damage the mbr, etc.
>In which case I would need to reformat.
>However, I have not heard of a virus doing this for some years. Do I not
>now need to be concerned about this threat?

Sure you do - the recent Blackmal virus, for instance, knocked that trend over
by delivering a payload that deliberately wipes out files.

Viruses can still do anything and everything that you, the user that runs the
virus, can do. As a result, you need to do two things:
1. Limit the things that you can do (run as non-administrator).
2. Have good backups.

Alun.
~~~~

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