Re: Can a Computer full of spyware ever be cleaned 100%

From: John Elsbury (john.elsbury_at_spamaway.clear.net.nz)
Date: 12/09/04 

Date: Thu, 09 Dec 2004 06:00:48 GMT

Well, yes, but you will need to have all the service packs and patches
for the OS and the browser available on a CD. You will also need
another CD with the latest versions of Ad-aware (and definitions),
your antivirus product of choice (and definitions) and, preferably, a
good firewall (and any updates). The firewall should ideally offer an
option to warn you about unexpected activity such as programs
installing themselves, and so on.

>From there you reinstall the OS entirely (or stick with the existing
one and apply the patches from the CD) without connecting to the
internet, install and update the AV and firewall, run the ad / spyware
removal software, run the AV software, recheck, configure the firewall
then (finally) connect to the internet. You may need to hack the
registry to get rid of any particularly persistent spyware present.
You might also want to check the hosts file first and, if there are
any odd entries, delete them all. Some viruses fiddle with the hosts
file and some adware / trojan programs may, as well.

When you have rebuilt your PC and you know it is clean, you might
consider getting a copy of Ghost and making a copy of your C drive to
as many DVDs as it takes - if you partition your disk so that C is
just for Windows and programs go on D, you should be able to get C
onto one DVD recordable. That way, if it goes bad later, you can
just get back to a known state from the DVD backup.
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