Lost Everything and have to hand in IT coursework tomorrow...HELP

RussJK

Lil306 wrote: »

Will need to see if this post is actually required since the OP hasn't replied for some time.

Oh if I thought anything we were saying past page 3 was going to help the OP, then I'd not have helped hijack the thread for discussions & recriminations

debitcardmayhem

RussJK wrote: »

Oh if I thought anything we were saying past page 3 was going to help the OP, then I'd not have helped hijack the thread for discussions & recriminations

Nor for conspiracy theories ...still down the :beer:

free4440273

Will need to see if this post is actually required since the OP hasn't replied for some time.

^^ Lol, easy to see why !

Lil306

Probably got the IT people in school to fix it since I believe it was due the next day wasn't it?

LucianH

This thread covers a subject that is most people’s worst nightmare - getting some sort of virus that corrupts/deletes all your files. The good news if that the general view is that the files are still there but have been hidden.

Now, I am a techie, but was at my peak with the BBC micro and Windows 3.11 - although I have built my own XP machine but my hardware knowledge is definitely stronger than my software knowledge and my knowledge of virus protection, malware etc is near zero (but I am attempting to follow may the threads on this site which I find extremely informative – thank you to all contributors)

This thread has gone off on a bit of a tangent but I’d like to ask a question related to an early post that nobody has commented on – just to help me (an possibly others) understand some of the issues with malware. The post in question (#100) suggested:

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

One option we all missed of course is if OP can run cmd.exe and then issue -

cd c:\Users\DDname

attrib -H /S *.doc

attrib -H /S *.xls

dir /S

Given my limited expertise, this would have been my first call to check of the data was there and then try and recover the data. I realise that we don’t know the exact cause of the problem, but is it possible that this would have worked and could you have used CMD.EXE to copy files to a memory sitck (or could the (possible) malware be running in the background continuously hiding the files)?

By the way: RussK – thanks for the link to the recovery disks. This seems to be the safest way of ensuring you can recover data should you get infected. I will ensure that I have one at hand (I have two daughters at university and I am waiting for the call “Dad, my laptop’s broken!”).

debitcardmayhem

LucianH wrote: »

This thread covers a subject that is most people’s worst nightmare - getting some sort of virus that corrupts/deletes all your files. The good news if that the general view is that the files are still there but have been hidden.

Now, I am a techie, but was at my peak with the BBC micro and Windows 3.11 - although I have built my own XP machine but my hardware knowledge is definitely stronger than my software knowledge and my knowledge of virus protection, malware etc is near zero (but I am attempting to follow may the threads on this site which I find extremely informative – thank you to all contributors)

This thread has gone off on a bit of a tangent but I’d like to ask a question related to an early post that nobody has commented on – just to help me (an possibly others) understand some of the issues with malware. The post in question (#100) suggested:



Given my limited expertise, this would have been my first call to check of the data was there and then try and recover the data. I realise that we don’t know the exact cause of the problem, but is it possible that this would have worked and could you have used CMD.EXE to copy files to a memory sitck (or could the (possible) malware be running in the background continuously hiding the files)?

By the way: RussK – thanks for the link to the recovery disks. This seems to be the safest way of ensuring you can recover data should you get infected. I will ensure that I have one at hand (I have two daughters at university and I am waiting for the call “Dad, my laptop’s broken!”).

It may have been possible to have [STRIKE]got[/STRIKE] made (English language suffering due to :beer: and the E55EX girls in the pub) the files visible , the cd c:\Users\DDname...... may not have worked ( I will test that later) because the DDname is probably a hidden file too , i seem to remember the OP tried to access her DD's files from guest, but it would have worked?guess? if attrib -h C:\Users\DDname /s without the cd (change directory first).

As for your last paragraph "This seems to be the safest way of ensuring you can recover data should you get infected." is not true unless you have viable backups. It may get your PC working but without backups(and more backups) you may as well buy the kids a new PC.

asbokid

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Nor for conspiracy theories

Oh dear, are you one of that sort? It's always one of two groups who toss in the "conspiracy theory" insult - corrupt governments or the ignorant who instinctively trust governments.

The insult is used as a thought-stopper by propagandists. Shouting "conspiracy theory" is a standard distraction technique to silence a discussion without actually offering any valid argument. Mindless goons latch on to the insult and parrot it.

So do have any useful insight on this topic, debitcardmayhem?

What would you like to say about Symantec "working with the author of one of the most widely deployed stealthkits around" ?

And what are your thoughts on McAfee working with hbgary which writes and sells malware for fairly large sums of money ?

So where does that leave McAfee? It leaves them in bed with commercial malware writers.

How many other AV companies, besides McAfee, were or are in bed with hbgary? How many are in bed with companies LIKE hbgary?

Some AV companies are rewarding malware writers financially. it may not be in the ways we traditionally thought of, but with the #1 and #2 companies in the industry involved in this practice, the end result is AV companies contributing to the commercial success of malware writers, and that is not ok at all.

That comment comes from a long-standing critic of the anti-virus industry..

RussJK

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

As for your last paragraph "This seems to be the safest way of ensuring you can recover data should you get infected." is not true unless you have viable backups. It may get your PC working but without backups(and more backups) you may as well buy the kids a new PC.

I'm not sure why you say this part. Dr Web lets you get at uncorrupted files safely using the file manager, and does this without rootkits/trojans being active. This way you can back up documents to USB or external HDD.

If hard drive is corrupted but physically working, then there are loads of data recovery tools on other recscue disks like Ultimate Boot CD, etc.

Obviously it's better to have backups in the first place, but as long as the hard drive physically works then you can get at them using various methods. Dr Web just is particularly handy because it has a web browser, file manager, and is decent at catching rootkits.

stilltheone

If they have the prerequisite licences, some may like to have DLC Super Multi Boot 2011 v1.0 at hand.

debitcardmayhem

asbokid wrote: »

Oh dear, are you one of that sort? It's always one of two groups who toss in the "conspiracy theory" insult - corrupt governments or the ignorant who instinctively trust governments.

The insult is used as a thought-stopper by propagandists. Shouting "conspiracy theory" is a standard distraction technique to silence a discussion without actually offering any valid argument. Mindless goons latch on to the insult and parrot it.

So do have any useful insight on this topic, debitcardmayhem?

One comment in red + er = troll

However none of this is going to help the thread creator