Re: [OT] Need Computer Geek Advice

Brian Running <brunning@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Once again, I have to turn to the most-reliable computer-information
source on the internet, good ol' agb. Here's the dealio:

Last night, I booted up one of my older computers, Win XP SP2, has
Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security 2007 on it.

Old computer, high bill rate professional spending time on it, rootkit
infection likely. This is easy:

Replace the machine. OEM's have heard about Vista being totally
different and not making people happy and are again offering XP sp2
machines on the shelves again. Throw $4-600 at a new one.

To get the data off, newegg.com and get a hard drive enclosure, stick
the old hard drive in it.

Some of the viruses IDed contained the dread word "rootkit." What are
the odds that I can retrieve photos and downloaded music off the hard
drive? I don't really care about anything else on the computer.

Pretty darned good.

Is this still in DIY territory, or is the thing tech-bound? Or should
I just douse it with gas and set 'er on fire?

Nah, you can do it. New computer, any good antivirus on it, get it
totally updated, latest antivirus definitions, etc (nod32 from eset is
my current favorite av), and then plug in the usb drive, and have the
AV work on it. After it's done, pull your photos off, and have a nice
day. Reformat the drive and use the enclosure and drive for backup or
whatever.

For bonus points, do the photo extraction under a bootable linux live
CD, but that gets more complex and really doesn't add a ton of value.
Or send the drive to me, and for $100 I'll pull the data off and mail
ya a DVD-R of em.

Best Regards,
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Todd H
\ / | http://www.toddh.net/
X Promoting good netiquette | http://triplethreatband.com/
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