Re: Problem with Files Disappearing

I am going to put this out there, because it is unlike anything I have heard
prior, and don't know where to begin.
Customer calls me and says that files/programs are disappearing from his
hard drive (even system files). My first thought is hardware failure.
However, he states it is also occurring on his backup external hard drive.
(Now sounds like a virus.) Has Symantec/Norton products, fully up to date,
and no warnings. Therefore, I am at a loss for what is causing this, what
if anything can be recovered, or just to start from scratch with whatever I
can backup first.
Any thoughts?

I'd probably start with my usual list, from scanning for rootkits
(i.e. Blacklight), installing something like Spybot S&D or
MalwareBytes AntiMalware and scanning...

For viruses, but these might not live "happily" with any existing AV
solution, perhaps Panda online virus scan, or Sysclean from Trend.

Can you give us any idea what files are going astray ? - and if it's
happening from a backup drive too, can you confirm they're actually
missing by using a known-clean machine that hasn't had the external
drive connected before ? (rootkits can theoretically tell Windows to
lie about pretty much anything they want it to)

My initial list would be this one...

http://coreutilities.freehostia.com/recommended.html

(http://www.coreutilities.co.uk is ostensibly the home page, but
redirects to free hosting)
.

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