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YOYOMAMA asked in Computers & InternetSoftware · 10 years ago

I need to use DBAN to make sure my computer is virus free. help?

I like to play games on my computer, and I used to trust AVG to protect me, but it slows down my PC way too much. Since then Ive started reformatting my computer every time I get a virus, and without an antivirus program, I end up doing it every few months or so since I don't have anything important on my computer and I can easily reinstall my games.. This time, however it seems like formatting didn't help all that much virus-wise. I did some research and it turns out that formatting your computer doesn't even really delete anything, but just makes it writable. So I decided I want to use dban to wipe my drive completely and erase any trace of a virus.

My question is, after I execute dban to clean my harddrive, what do I have to do to reinstall windows?(My current OS). Does it just make the drive clean like it would(or should) have been after a reformat and let me reinstall windows like I have been doing? Does it affect anything else on my computer such as my BIOS settings? And lastly what happens if dban fails? Can I still reinstall windows if I boot from cd?

Just want to know if there are any complications I will need to deal with before I do this because I need to have a working computer, preferably a virus free one, but a working one at that.

1 Answer

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  • Tamim
    Lv 7
    10 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Formatting or deleting partition does'nt make sure your PC is totally virus/trojan free. You need to make sure your BOOT is clean from viruses. (Possibly Your Boot is infected). You need to perform a boot scan. & You can do it without wiping/formatting your PC. Just Follow the instructions:

    +First download the latest versions of the following on +another, clean machine+ and burn to CD or copy to a USB memory stick+

    Malwarebytes: http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

    ComboFix http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/sUBs/ComboFix...

    FixNCR.reg http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/reg/FixNCR.re...

    RKill http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/anti-viru... this page has a variety of different filenames to download to fool the virus, which will try to block RKill from running. Remember the filename of the version you downloaded.

    CCleaner (cleans out caches) http://www.ccleaner.com/

    Avast! 4 Home: http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

    Download these to your desktop and before running them, then change the names of the malwarebyte and combofix files to

    Malwarebytes: mblah.scr

    ComboFix: comfix.exe

    Follow these steps in order Don't skip ahead.

    Now, start the machine in Safe Mode with networking (hit the F8 function key as the machine boots up, and choose Safe mode)

    Turn off System Restore on your machine, but only until you get this fixed - many of these trojans get copied into the System Restore files, which anti-virus programs aren't allowed to touch and the viruses could reinstall themselves from there. My Computer > Properties > System Restore.

    The malware actively blocks programs and tools, so before you can start cleaning, you need to get the malware entries out of the registry, and stop the malware's current processes from running.

    Double-click FixNCR.reg to run it to clean the registry

    Now double click the RKill file (whatever name you downloaded it as) to run it. Wait for it, it could take a while. If the fake antivirus program throws a warning on the screen and blocks RKill, leave the warning up on the screen and run RKill again.

    Do not reboot your computer If you reboot it will just load the malware in again.

    Then run CCleaner (it'll make scanning faster because it will delete a bunch of temp files and save you from having to scan those.) If the virus blocks CCleaner from running, proceed to the next step.

    Then run Malwarebytes (mblah), and clean everything it says.

    Then run ComboFix (comfix), and clean everything it says. If it tells you to reboot your machine during the process, do so immediately.

    Then install and run Avast - tell Avast to do a boot-scan - click on "schedule boot-scan" - and restart the computer

    Let it start and do the Avast boot scan

    Then turn System Restore back on.

    Now install the antivirus program of your choice to do continuous scanning, and make sure you keep it up to date

    Always keep your Windows, web browser and Java software up to date - frequent patches are released to plug security holes.

    http://www.pcworld.com/article/149298/10_quick_fix...

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