Virus removal

Hello guys, I've heard that viruses are never removed from the hard disk even we use an anti virus program to clean it. It is right or not

Thanks for response

Abit of an arb question mate.

Malware is generally "disinfected" or "Deleted" so I would say its gone ... (ppl going to argue here :P).

However , do you really know that your system is clean?

Most Anti-Virus programs Quarantine threats when they are found, I think this may be what you mean. Threats are moved to a safe "container" where they cannot be invoked or spread in the event that removing an infected system file causes system instability, crash, blue screen, etc. The file in question could be restored upon causing any system problems...

Most AV programs allow the user to set actions to be taken when a virus is detected.
Quarantine is just one of them.

Correct, you can set actions, but the default is usually quarantine......just pointing out the option relevant to his question ;-)

Strictly speaking the virus is still there, and, as has been mentioned, it all depends on your AV settings and how it works.

If the AV uses a "secure deletion" method (that is, it overwrites the virus code) then the virus is gone as far as software recovery is concerned and only might be recoverable by destructive forensic methods.

I personally prefer the quarantine approach, as you can easily check which files you will have to replace with clean versions ;)

EDIT:

Most antiviruses will either delete or quarantine anything they can't clean. As Wazz quite rightly observes this can often cause systems instability, which is why I always take the quarantine option until I have things sorted out.

that are depend antivirus is updated or not ?mostly virus are deleted when antivirus in updated forms .

Hi, samuelwilliam,

Yes, your anti-malware tells you that the item is "deleted"; but in reality it isn't. The electro-magnetic imprints will remain on your hard-drive until it is physically destroyed.

O.K. in practical terms it has been de-activated, and cannot be accessed or run on your system, but it is still there.

IT security rule no.3: "Deleted isn't"

Or use a program like Eraser or Ccleaner to remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns.

Read more: Eraser - CNET Download.com http://download.cnet.com/Eraser/3000...#ixzz2HMkCoxWh

Or use a program like Eraser or Ccleaner to remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns.

Read more: Eraser - CNET Download.com http://download.cnet.com/Eraser/3000...#ixzz2HMkCoxWh

Yes you will just bury it.

@shay

Yes, those are good tools but you only need to wipe the quarantine folder and then the free-space, once in this case. You use multiple overwrites to block the forensic recovery of sensitive data.

A single overwrite will prevent any chance of a program running again, and with the size of today's hard drives is the way to go.

There again, if you are certain that your anti malware overwrites rather than just moves to quarantine or flags as deleted; you would only need to zap the quarantine folder. :)

Of course it would still be there technically, but in an overwritten state.

@nihil
Good points I failed to bring out. THANKS!

Quote:

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if you are certain that your anti malware overwrites rather than just moves to quarantine or flags as deleted;

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Never could figure out if they did overwrite, so that lead to what I posted.

I would say from my personal experience that most of the antivirus while deleting malwares or virus it just collects all the malwares and get stored in its quarantine, Mostly its not completely removed from your system.

if you use an good and registered anti virus then virus should be deleted, when it is found by antivirus. the other main thin is, you need to update your antivirus on regular basis.

Jack,

It all depends on what is meant by "deleted". In general computing terms nothing is actually deleted, it is just flagged as reusable.

Unless you are sure of how your anti-malware works, it would be a wise precaution to wipe freespace :cool:

I would be careful when "Deleting things"...Viruses tend to attach themselves to system files. Can't tell you how many times I've deleted viruses only to be left with a crippled system!!

Me too!

These days I use the quarantine facility and set up my customers the same. That way I can see which files were affected, and more importantly what the threat was, as I might consider it safer to do a save and reinstall.

There's are options that you want to Quarantine threats or Delete threats. If you chose the delete option than it will be removed for ever. you computer may restart or antivious can ask you to restart the computer. If ask for the restart then it better to restart the computer for getting full safety.

There's are options that you want to Quarantine threats or Delete threats. If you chose the delete option than it will be removed for ever. you computer may restart or antivirus can ask you to restart the computer. If ask for the restart then it better to restart the computer for getting full safety.

Is ccleaner the best one to remove the virus?

Over writing will just bury everything on the drive and I DO mean everything.

Then you have to start from scratch again. I.E. do a complete clean install or image/clone back.
Gots to be careful, but a few programs do let you overwrite free space.
So no, ccleaner is not a virus tool.

Even if we use antivirus updated forms or ccleaner we cannot assure our system is 100% virus free.

Yep, kind of like we cannot assure we are 100% virus free. ;)

Once virus has attacked in laptop,system,hardisk or any other electronic devices we cannot remove 100% until we format.Through anti virus programs we can prevent up to some extent but not entirely