OT - Antivirus clean up USB

[Javier Perez]

Hi. This is Off Topic.
Is there a reliable usb or dvd  distribution with tools to clean up
viruses, root kits, whatever from a Hard drive?
I got a quite slow windows 10 laptop from a nephew for clean  up (I do not
know what kind of viruses/malware might be lurking in there).
Rather than hooking it to my home network I would prefer to first start it
from a cleaning usb/dvd and at least catch and erase them off line instead
of giving them the opportunity to try and conquer my linux realm :)
Thanks

[ToddAndMargo]

On 5/24/19 11:11 AM, Javier Perez wrote:
> Hi. This is Off Topic.
> Is there a reliable usb or dvd  distribution with tools to clean up 
> viruses, root kits, whatever from a Hard drive?
> I got a quite slow windows 10 laptop from a nephew for clean  up (I do 
> not know what kind of viruses/malware might be lurking in there).
> Rather than hooking it to my home network I would prefer to first start 
> it from a cleaning usb/dvd and at least catch and erase them off line 
> instead of giving them the opportunity to try and conquer my linux realm :)
> Thanks

https://www.eset.com/int/support/sysrescue/
Use dd to cut it to a Flash Drive

If all else fails, do a dd /dev/zero and wipe out the hard drive
and start over.

If you have not used Windows Nein, oops, Windows Ten before
you are in for a rude awakening!  Swearing helps.What
were they thinking!

:-)

off list Re: OT - Antivirus clean up USB

[jdow]

On 20190524 14:43:17, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> On 5/24/19 11:11 AM, Javier Perez wrote:
> > Hi. This is Off Topic.
> > Is there a reliable usb or dvd  distribution with tools to clean up viruses, 
> > root kits, whatever from a Hard drive?
> > I got a quite slow windows 10 laptop from a nephew for clean  up (I do not 
> > know what kind of viruses/malware might be lurking in there).
> > Rather than hooking it to my home network I would prefer to first start it 
> > from a cleaning usb/dvd and at least catch and erase them off line instead of 
> > giving them the opportunity to try and conquer my linux realm :)
> > Thanks
>
> https://www.eset.com/int/support/sysrescue/
> Use dd to cut it to a Flash Drive
>
> If all else fails, do a dd /dev/zero and wipe out the hard drive
> and start over.
>
> If you have not used Windows Nein, oops, Windows Ten before
> you are in for a rude awakening!  Swearing helps.What
> were they thinking!
>
> :-)

Meh - I have my Win 10 looking and acting almost 100% like Windows 7 except for 
the mandatory updates. "There are tools." Now, getting KDE or Gnome tamed into 
modest usefulness is close to impossible without a lot of blood sweat and tears.
So pots and kettles are both black.

{^_-}

off list Re: OT - Antivirus clean up USB

[jdow]

Well - it was SUPPOSED to be off list. Thank you not Thunderbird.
Sorry for the noise here.
{o.o}

On 20190524 17:53:31, jdow wrote:
> On 20190524 14:43:17, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> > On 5/24/19 11:11 AM, Javier Perez wrote:
> > > Hi. This is Off Topic.
> > > Is there a reliable usb or dvd  distribution with tools to clean up viruses, 
> > > root kits, whatever from a Hard drive?
> > > I got a quite slow windows 10 laptop from a nephew for clean  up (I do not 
> > > know what kind of viruses/malware might be lurking in there).
> > > Rather than hooking it to my home network I would prefer to first start it 
> > > from a cleaning usb/dvd and at least catch and erase them off line instead of 
> > > giving them the opportunity to try and conquer my linux realm :)
> > > Thanks
> >
> > https://www.eset.com/int/support/sysrescue/
> > Use dd to cut it to a Flash Drive
> >
> > If all else fails, do a dd /dev/zero and wipe out the hard drive
> > and start over.
> >
> > If you have not used Windows Nein, oops, Windows Ten before
> > you are in for a rude awakening!  Swearing helps.What
> > were they thinking!
> >
> > :-)
>
> Meh - I have my Win 10 looking and acting almost 100% like Windows 7 except for 
> the mandatory updates. "There are tools." Now, getting KDE or Gnome tamed into 
> modest usefulness is close to impossible without a lot of blood sweat and tears.
> So pots and kettles are both black.
>
> {^_-}
> _______________________________________________
> users mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
> Fedora Code of Conduct: https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html
> List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
> List Archives: 
> https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[e-mail]

off list Re: OT - Antivirus clean up USB

[fred roller]

Cdrescue was a good resource when I did recovery/cleaning.

On Fri, May 24, 2019, 5:54 PM jdow <[e-mail] wrote:
> On 20190524 14:43:17, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> > On 5/24/19 11:11 AM, Javier Perez wrote:
> > > Hi. This is Off Topic.
> > > Is there a reliable usb or dvd  distribution with tools to clean up
>
> viruses,
> > > root kits, whatever from a Hard drive?
> > > I got a quite slow windows 10 laptop from a nephew for clean  up (I do
>
> not
> > > know what kind of viruses/malware might be lurking in there).
> > > Rather than hooking it to my home network I would prefer to first start
>
> it
> > > from a cleaning usb/dvd and at least catch and erase them off line
>
> instead of
> > > giving them the opportunity to try and conquer my linux realm :)
> > > Thanks
> >
> > https://www.eset.com/int/support/sysrescue/
> > Use dd to cut it to a Flash Drive
> >
> > If all else fails, do a dd /dev/zero and wipe out the hard drive
> > and start over.
> >
> > If you have not used Windows Nein, oops, Windows Ten before
> > you are in for a rude awakening!  Swearing helps.What
> > were they thinking!
> >
> > :-)
>
> Meh - I have my Win 10 looking and acting almost 100% like Windows 7
> except for
> the mandatory updates. "There are tools." Now, getting KDE or Gnome tamed
> into
> modest usefulness is close to impossible without a lot of blood sweat and
> tears.
> So pots and kettles are both black.
>
> {^_-}
> _______________________________________________
> users mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
> Fedora Code of Conduct: https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html
> List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
> List Archives:
> https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[e-mail]

off list Re: OT - Antivirus clean up USB

[ToddAndMargo]

On 5/24/19 5:53 PM, jdow wrote:
> On 20190524 14:43:17, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> > On 5/24/19 11:11 AM, Javier Perez wrote:
> > > Hi. This is Off Topic.
> > > Is there a reliable usb or dvd  distribution with tools to clean up 
> > > viruses, root kits, whatever from a Hard drive?
> > > I got a quite slow windows 10 laptop from a nephew for clean  up (I 
> > > do not know what kind of viruses/malware might be lurking in there).
> > > Rather than hooking it to my home network I would prefer to first 
> > > start it from a cleaning usb/dvd and at least catch and erase them 
> > > off line instead of giving them the opportunity to try and conquer my 
> > > linux realm :)
> > > Thanks
> >
> > https://www.eset.com/int/support/sysrescue/
> > Use dd to cut it to a Flash Drive
> >
> > If all else fails, do a dd /dev/zero and wipe out the hard drive
> > and start over.
> >
> > If you have not used Windows Nein, oops, Windows Ten before
> > you are in for a rude awakening!  Swearing helps.What
> > were they thinking!
> >
> > :-)
>
> Meh - I have my Win 10 looking and acting almost 100% like Windows 7 
> except for the mandatory updates. "There are tools." Now, getting KDE or 
> Gnome tamed into modest usefulness is close to impossible without a lot 
> of blood sweat and tears.
> So pots and kettles are both black.
>
> {^_-}

I work on Windows, Linux, and MacOS.  Windows Nein, oops,
Windows Ten is so badly done it makes my head spin.
Windows 7 and XP are far more easy to work on.  But then again,
if you pay me, I will work on anything.  Couple of years
back, I fixed a CAD/CAM assembly line based on DOS.  I
had a blast -- old home week.

But ShutUp10 and Open Shell do help.  And turning off Fast Boot.
I also turn of the updates as they are so badly done they make
my head spin.  Doesn't not matter anyway because I use the 10
VM for research only.  And the updates cause more trouble
than they are worth

Mac OS is weird forth the sake of weirdness.  It works okay
and is stable, but why they do what they do is beyond me.
Most of my Mac OS customers do no know how to exit programs
or how to shutdown their computers.  You would never get away
with this with Nein.

As you can tell from my previous writing, I am not a fan of
RHEL and clones.

My favorite OS of all time is Fedora.

Not that it matter on this list, but Windows Nein just release
build 1903

My favorite Windows Nein wall paper:
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/fc/53/1e/fc531e0d43f8417669eb1aca874ff2ab.jpg

[Tim]

On Fri, 2019-05-24 at 13:11 -0500, Javier Perez wrote:
> Is there a reliable usb or dvd  distribution with tools to clean up
> viruses, root kits, whatever from a Hard drive? 
> I got a quite slow windows 10 laptop from a nephew for clean  up (I
> do not know what kind of viruses/malware might be lurking in there).

You can always try the brute force and ignorance method:

* Unplug its hard drive, put it into a USB enclosure, connect that to
   your own system.
 * Copy personal files across (pictures, documents, music, etc) to a
   backup space.  Ignore all system, program, configuration files. 
   Write down the names of particular programs that you'd want to
   reinstall.
 * Zero out the drive.
 * Reinstall from fresh.
 * Remove any unwanted shovelware included with that install (big name
   manufactures often include their own awful software with the windows
   installation).
 * Do a Windows update.
 * Install anti-malware programs.
 * See if it's any good, then copy personal files back across.

NB:  If you do not have Windows install media (which is the current
trend), you'll have to try and get some from their website, or consider
not zeroing the drive.  Keep the Windows rescue partition, just zero
out the other partitions.  Hope that the rescue partition is pristine.

I gave up on Windows almost 2 decades ago.  I run a mile from fixing
friend's PCs years ago, too.  I consider it on a par with being asked
to unblock their sewer pipes with bare hands.

[Samuel Sieb]

On 5/24/19 9:51 PM, Tim via users wrote:
> NB:  If you do not have Windows install media (which is the current
> trend), you'll have to try and get some from their website, or consider
> not zeroing the drive.  Keep the Windows rescue partition, just zero
> out the other partitions.  Hope that the rescue partition is pristine.

You can get the install ISOs from the microsoft website and write it to 
a USB drive.  If you do a full clean install, I believe it creates that 
rescue partition as well.

Updated kernel to 5.0.16-300.fc30.x86_64

 
Updated Fedora 30 system with all latest, and latest kernel.  Gnome doesn't start, but consoles seem to be ok and it does boot to multiuser....I think. When I reboot down into the previous kernel, 5.0.13-300.fc30.x86_64, everything works fine.
Wondering if there is a problem with the newer kernel and my nvidia card, GeForce GT 640. Haven't had time to really look yet, but wondering if anyone else has run across this?
Thanks.

Updated kernel to 5.0.16-300.fc30.x86_64

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Sat, 2019-05-25 at 10:01 -0400, [e-mail] wrote:
>  
> Updated Fedora 30 system with all latest, and latest kernel.  Gnome doesn't start, but consoles seem to be ok and it does boot to multiuser....I think. When I reboot down into the previous kernel, 5.0.13-300.fc30.x86_64, everything works fine.
> Wondering if there is a problem with the newer kernel and my nvidia card, GeForce GT 640. Haven't had time to really look yet, but wondering if anyone else has run across this?
> Thanks.

Kindly do NOT hijack threads. Your message is completely unrelated to
the one you are replying to, and changing the Subject line does not
make it OK because the various list-related headers remain the same.

Create a new message from scratch if you want people to reply.

poc

[sixpack13]

you could never ever be to 100 % sure that you fetch all viruses, etc.  !

So my advice (in case you got an recovery partition with an full configured and imaged win installation in):
1. backup C:\Users (complete folder) to an external disk (maybe disk d: ..., too)
2. virus scan only that backup from the previous step
3. take a screenshot of what applications/drivers are installed
4. recover the laptop 
maybe there is a Bios Boot key/Option or a Program in your start menue (=> maybe vendor forum, ,,,)

5. cherry pick the user files (NOT directories !) from your backup and restore them to the right folders
- YOU NEVER EVER SHOULD copy the complete old c:\Users to new C:\Users (it won't work !)
- an application with dual Windows for directories "TotalCommander" (Win) or MC (Linux) could help
- user generated files mainly are under: 
C:\Users<nephew-user-name-here{Documents,Downloads, Pictures, Videos,...???}  
C:\Users<nephew-user-name-here\AppData and mostly \Roaming
C:\Users\Public\ 
D:\ E:\ ???

6. run update for windows/application/driver (vendor drivers are meant NOT M$'s)
7. install a virus scanner
8. think about a backup strategy

IF don't  have an recovery partition:
same as before, but for 4. you need to install by hand: windows, driver, application
according to 8.: you will for sure be triggered to think about an backup strategy afterwards, don't give up ! 
;-)

P.S:
if it's an ASUS: shortly I read about that the app installer distributes malware, etc. !!!

P.P.S.
persuade your nephew to run linux (F30) with maybe window in an VM on the laptop shortens to above work too !
Backup the recovery partition and the disk layout then.

[sixpack13]

maybe you mixed Windows Rescue and Vendors Rescue/recovery.

the first comes from M$ and is able to boot the box and do some simple tasks (Win 7, don't know if Win 10 can do more)
analogous to F30 rescue.

the second is an disk image (like dd) from the vendor and contains:
- a complete Windows installation with drivers, application, bloatware, etc.
- a set of tools to freshen and/or to restore that recovery and maybe a change to the boot sector to provide an function key to start recovery out of the boot sreen

restore overwrites the hole disk or at least the windows partition with that contents, an image, in the (normally) hidden recovery partition. 
It simply reset the box to the state when you bought it.

P.S.
we discussed that already weeks ago.
when do you want to start remembering it ? 
- askes a 58 year old sixpack13 with the beginning indication of "weared out memory", Hrmph ! -
:-P

[Samuel Sieb]

According to the threading, it appears you're replying to me.

On 5/25/19 11:27 AM,   sixpack13 wrote:
> maybe you mixed Windows Rescue and Vendors Rescue/recovery.
>
> the first comes from M$ and is able to boot the box and do some simple tasks (Win 7, don't know if Win 10 can do more)
> analogous to F30 rescue.

On the Microsoft website, you can get an ISO file to install Windows.  I 
don't know how to navigate there, but Google works well:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10ISO
It's a full offline installer that will install into the space you tell 
it to.  I don't think it creates the recovery partition.
> the second is an disk image (like dd) from the vendor and contains:
> a complete Windows installation with drivers, application, bloatware, etc.
> a set of tools to freshen and/or to restore that recovery and maybe a change to the boot sector to provide an function key to start recovery out of the boot sreen

Vendors (almost?) never provide media.  You should create a recovery 
image from within Windows before it gets messed up.
> restore overwrites the hole disk or at least the windows partition with that contents, an image, in the (normally) hidden recovery partition.
> It simply reset the box to the state when you bought it.

I'm pretty sure that the recovery image doesn't use that hidden 
partition, but I do think it creates it.  Probably the recovery image 
creator process uses that partition to create the image.  My memory is 
that using the recovery image wipes the hard drive and repartitions it.

Do note that I've done this very rarely and I've had very limited 
success with using recovery images.  Usually I've just ended up using 
the full installer instead.
> P.S.
> we discussed that already weeks ago.
> when do you want to start remembering it ?

Too many threads to keep track of.  If you want me to remember, provide 
a link to the archive.

[sixpack13]

> According to the threading, it appears you're replying to me.

yup.

...>
> Vendors (almost?) never provide media.  ...

But vendor fills the recovery partition and provides the recovery software
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXvoUbhf1mc
https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/model/NP-NC10-JC02SE/
=> Recovery Solution
...
> Do note that I've done this very rarely and I've had very limited 
> success with using recovery images.  Usually I've just ended up using 
> the full installer instead.

Not so here with HP/Samsung laptops
full install is to much time consuming, if I got a recovery. 
~20 Minutes to restore + time for updates versus several hours: win install, driver, application, updates

you are from germany ?
and read heise c't, esp. if they provide article/software for WinPE and drivesnapshot within ?
http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/

image creation is limited to 1 year, but restore is unlimited what heise provides.
creates images on a running windows !
> Too many threads to keep track of.  If you want me to remember, provide 
> a link to the archive.

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[e-mail]/...

thread called: "how to have dual boot on new laptop" from @Gianluca Cecchi
from 10.05.2019

[Tim]

On Sat, 2019-05-25 at 17:55 +0000,   sixpack13 wrote:
> P.S:
> if it's an ASUS: shortly I read about that the app installer
> distributes malware, etc. !!!

Many years ago my ASUS laptop came, as new, with a trojan.  Their staff
who'd created the laptop's factory installation had used a trojaned
keygen to crack a winzip application, and left all of that buried in
the install (the keygenerator with a trojan, and the cracked winzip
program).

[Kam Leo]

Many moons ago, I used a collection of utilities for PCs issued under the
banner of "Hiren's Boot CD". I believe the utilities were later made
available for operation from a USB device. Do a web search to see if the
collection is still available.

On Sun, May 26, 2019 at 12:30 AM Tim via users <
[e-mail]> wrote:
> On Sat, 2019-05-25 at 17:55 +0000,   sixpack13 wrote:
> > P.S:
> > if it's an ASUS: shortly I read about that the app installer
> > distributes malware, etc. !!!
>
> Many years ago my ASUS laptop came, as new, with a trojan.  Their staff
> who'd created the laptop's factory installation had used a trojaned
> keygen to crack a winzip application, and left all of that buried in
> the install (the keygenerator with a trojan, and the cracked winzip
> program).
>
> users mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
> Fedora Code of Conduct: https://getfedora.org/code-of-conduct.html
> List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
> List Archives:
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