How can I protect my HDD??

[jckson]

I need to know: a system with two HDD, one with operating system and the other with my documents.
Suppose that while connected to the internet a virus is downloaded to the second hdd (i.e. the one with my docs) would it infect the other hard drive(i.e. the one with OS)
I know that the anti virus should prevent this from happening but one never knows.
Thanks guys..

[mariush]

When you're infected from the Internet, most often the virus is executed directly by the software you use (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Flash) due to some bug in them. An antivirus usually scans the data as it comes to that software and stops the virus from being downloaded completely so it never has a chance to be executed.

But if for some reason, the antivirus won't detect it, the virus will stay in memory and go straight for the files of your operating system and infect them, because his objective is to be able to start again the next time your reboot the computer. So after you restart your PC, as an infected program or library (.dll file) is loaded from your OS drive, the virus is also loaded back in memory and ready to do it's dirty work.

You could say most viruses (trojans) would actually prefer to aim the OS drive first, and infect the other drives at a slower rate, as to not raise suspicion (if user sees the hard drive led blinking a lot and he knows he's not doing anything, he might get a clue he has a virus)

[Ghitulescu]

Internet connection and PC protection do not rhyme :p

[7ekno]

Internet connection and PC protection do not rhyme :p

Unless using a Sandbox for browsing and ShadowDefender/Returnil for Drive protection ;)

7ek

[Ghitulescu]

(if user sees the hard drive led blinking a lot and he knows he's not doing anything, he might get a clue he has a virus)
So does my Windows, not that I disagree it's a virus you pay for it :p

Unless using a Sandbox for browsing and ShadowDefender/Returnil for Drive protection ;)


Load the OS from a CD-ROM (DVD-ROM) and mount the HDD as read-only if you need it. It won't work with any Windows past 3.11 as it needs to rewrite the boot sector any time.

The virus can only infect the RAM.

Not even the virtual PCs are protected from these infections, don't fool yourselves in thinking the contrary, they are better protected but not immune.

[stellargellar]

im not a mac geek but one of the positives for owning one is less worry for viruses.

anti-viruses protect you from 98% of threats out there. one way to be safe is to avoid unnecessary downloads and visiting random sites. good luck!

[7ekno]

don't fool yourselves in thinking the contrary, they are better protected but not immune.

Got a link?!? Plenty of threads on Wilders Security Forums with members trying all sorts of malware in an attempt to find one that escapes a Sandbox / Virtual Protection system, and to date nothing has been found (although theoretically possible) ...

7ek