| I guess most of us have know this for many years | | | | but what about the person who buys a PC from a |
| but now even the creators of Windows have | | | | shop ? Most of those will have everything on the C: |
| admitted it - Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware | | | | drive so if a wipe+reinstall is needed due to a crash |
| Becoming Impossible "When you are dealing with | | | | virus/root-kit/etc, the owners are likely to lose |
| rootkits and some advanced spyware programs, the | | | | everything if they have not done a backup. |
| only solution is to rebuild from scratch. In some | | | | I expect many people reading this would regard it as |
| cases, there really is no way to recover without | | | | just another PC problem but I have been using Linux |
| nuking the systems from orbit," Said Mike Danseglio, | | | | and BSD for about three years now and have yet to |
| program manager in the Security Solutions group at | | | | see anything like this, although Linux isn't without its |
| Microsoft. | | | | problems too. When I upgraded from SuSE 9.2 to 9.3, |
| If that wasn't bad enough Robert X. Cringely wrote :- | | | | I noticed a 'feature' of SuSE Linux called 'Update-Rot' |
| Last week, a Microsoft data security guru suggested | | | | which silently removed a few critical programs. As |
| at a conference that corporate and government | | | | this was the free version I guess I cant complain and |
| users would be wise to come up with automated | | | | I managed to get them all back, so all was well. |
| processes to wipe clean hard drives and reinstall | | | | They say the worst equipment makes the best |
| operating systems and applications periodically as a | | | | engineers so I certainly got a good education from |
| way to deal with malware infestations. What | | | | the 6 years I spent using / fixing Windows, especially |
| Microsoft is talking about is a utility from SysInternals, | | | | in recovering data from crippled Windows machines. |
| a company that makes simply awesome tools. | | | | So here are a few tips :- |
| The crying shame of this whole story is that | | | | 1.Its not a question of 'if' your PC crashes, its a |
| Microsoft has given up on Windows security. They | | | | question of 'when'. If you are using an earlier versions |
| have no internal expertise to solve this problem | | | | of Windows it will be much sooner than you think. |
| among their 60,000-plus employees, and they | | | | 2.Keep any valuable data on at least one other |
| apparently have no interest in looking outside for | | | | device. There are plenty of options like CD-RW, USB |
| help. I know any number of experts who could give | | | | drives and NAS (Network attached storage). Even an |
| Microsoft some very good guidance on what is | | | | old PC could be used to backup valuable data via a |
| needed to fix and secure Windows. There are very | | | | network. |
| good developers Microsoft could call upon to help | | | | 3.Identify where your data actually is. If you are |
| them. But no, their answer is to rebuild your system | | | | using Linux or BSD most of your data including email, |
| every few days and start over. Will Vista be any | | | | favourites, documents, music, photos and even |
| better? I don't think so. | | | | program settings are usually kept in your personal |
| I find that really sad. Like many of us I own a large | | | | folder. If you are using Windows things are a lot |
| collection of music and movies which are still usable | | | | more complicated as a lot of your data will scattered |
| 20+ years later but the data on your PC will be lucky | | | | across several folders or embedded in the Registry. |
| to survive a year or two without a backup. Some | | | | 4.Think security. Only install software if you trust the |
| copy protection systems will even forbid you to | | | | author and really need it. Make sure you have a |
| make backups or transfer to another PC so when | | | | decent virus scanner and firewall. As an added |
| your PC finally dies, your stuff goes with it. The only | | | | precaution use an 'ADSL modem+router' combo to |
| good side to all of this is you will be forced to buy | | | | access the Internet instead of just an 'ADSL modem'. |
| your music/movie/game collection all over again and | | | | 5.There is also a rumour going around that the new |
| some media exec will finally get that 3rd yacht. | | | | version of Mac OS X will be able to run native |
| Its for that reason I don't use Windows for anything | | | | Windows programs (a bit like VMWare, Xen or |
| serious these days but when I did I would always | | | | WINE) - just imagine being able to run your favourite |
| create separate partitions on my hard drive; one (C:) | | | | programs without the security woes. Could be worth |
| for Windows and programs and the other (D:) for all | | | | a look when it comes out. |
| my stuff. Each time Windows had become unusable | | | | It has been estimated that when data lose occurs, |
| mainly due to 'WinRot' (A special feature of Windows | | | | most companies only last about two years. I wonder |
| to slowly degrade after about 12 months of use), I | | | | how many companies have been decimated by |
| could safely wipe my C: drive, re-install Windows and | | | | simple Windows crash. That's why I use Linux and |
| programs with out losing anything valuable. I used to | | | | FreeBSD: They rarely crash, and if they do, I know I |
| set-up my customers PCs in much the same way. I | | | | can recover my data quite easily because its all in |
| suspect many other engineers used similar strategies | | | | one place. |