Microsoft Says Recovery from Malware Becoming Impossible

[Leapfrog Software]

Greetings All,

Here is an interesting article for your eyes to feast upon. For those that already have FD-ISR, this is probably not to much of an issue on your systems, or at least the recovery is a simple one.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1945808,00.asp

[Peter2150]

In a way kind of funny. I bet the malware, couldn't inflict more damage then I've done myself at times. I've trashed this system pretty badly a couple of times. Oh well, reboot do a copy reboot, and move on to next disaster;D

Scary thing is programs like FDISR almost make you fearless.

[ronjor]

FD-ISR is the best all around program I have ever seen for a PC. The misery factor drops to zero if you have this program. Misery meaning formats of your hard drive. :D

[TonyW]

The real trick is not to catch the malware in the first place. ;)

[Acadia]

-{ Quote: "FD-ISR is the best all around program I have ever seen for a PC. The misery factor drops to zero if you have this program. Misery meaning formats of your hard drive. :D" }-
Wow, coming from you ronjor, the quiet "masked one" :lurking:, that really means something (of course, that's not to take anything away from Peter or any of the others 8)).

Acadia

[Peter2150]

Tony

I wasn't talking about malware. I was talking about stuff like testing a registry cleaner and having it hang the system. Power resets at that point have rather nasty consequences. I did it once and oh it was badddd. Probably would have resulted in one of Ron's miseries. Not with FDISR.

Pete

[dallen]

-{ Quote: "The real trick is not to catch the malware in the first place. ;)" }-That's the trick, but even the most security conscientious users will eventually come across something, unfortunately. Therefore, the trick is to be prepared when the inevitable happens.;)

I have to agree that FDISR is one of the best all around programs I have ever seen for a PC, ronjor. However, Image for Windows/DOS by Terabyte Unlimited (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/index.html) Makes the race for the best all around program ever seen for a PC. Since you qualified the category with the words "all around," I would have to give the edge to FDISR, simply because of its versatility.

[Acadia]

So, Dallen, the Terabyte program works well with FirstDefense? Have you successfully restored images that had FD contained on it? If so, what do you do when you make images and restore, that is, do keep FD installed or do you kill the pre-boot option so as to release the MBR from FD's control?

The reason that I'm asking all these questions is because I am considering the purchase of the Terabyte program. Thanks.

Acadia

[Leapfrog Software]

Greetings,

After seeing the eweek article, it reminds me of the days I used to troubleshoot systems. All those hours spent trying to remove something new in the world that has made the system crazy. I have to admit, my troubleshooting skills have probably decreased over the years. My answer to everything is now, "just reboot". The ISR technology has made me lazy! ;)

Acadia, to answer your questions about a restoring an image from a BMR (Bare Metal Restore) type product, we have a special feature added to the MBR. If you do leave FD-ISR "MBR Enabled" during partition or disk imaging from another product (Image for Windows, GHOST, Acronis, etc.), when the BMR image is restored, if the FD-ISR boot code is not found, it will simple boot the active snapshot(last snapshot booted) and immediately fix-up the boot code, making it available the next time you boot.

I hope that helps.

[Acadia]

Excellent, Todd, thank you.

Acadia

[dallen]

-{ Quote: "So, Dallen, the Terabyte program works well with FirstDefense? Have you successfully restored images that had FD contained on it? If so, what do you do when you make images and restore, that is, do keep FD installed or do you kill the pre-boot option so as to release the MBR from FD's control?

The reason that I'm asking all these questions is because I am considering the purchase of the Terabyte program. Thanks.

Acadia" }-
Arcadia...it seems an expert has already addressed the MBR question.

To anwer your first two questions I would say that Image for Windows/DOS works very well with FDISR installed. That being said, I have never restored an image on a system with FDISR installed (primarily because FDISR is my first option and frankly it works well). I have restored systems without FDISR and I am pretty confident in saying that it would work just fine. I have sucessfully imaged a system with FDISR and successfully validated those images. I've just never actually restored one.

Please visit this page and view the tutorials: http://www.heffy.com/image.htm
It will teach you a lot about how it works and what to expect. I tend use Image for DOS and not Image for Windows. Mainly because you get a cleaner image from a system that is not actively running Windows, in my opinion.

[crofttk]

-{ Quote: "...I have sucessfully imaged a system with FDISR and successfully validated those images. I've just never actually restored one..." }-
And, Acadia I can provide the rest of that affirmation having successfully test restored my system drive with FDISR installed both from Image for Windows and BootIt NG images as I attested to over here: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=721371#post721371

[Acadia]

-{ Quote: "Acadia, I can provide the rest of that affirmation having successfully test restored my system drive with FDISR installed both from Image for Windows and BootIt NG images ..." }-
:thumb: 8)

Acadia

[tobacco]

Could an acronis backup archive of a c partition be restored to a firstdefense snapshot to test it's validity ( no errors )?.Is there a mbr issue between these 2?.

[crofttk]

I wouldn't touch that one with a 39-and-a-half foot pole.
Follow the link in my post above to see what I think about ATI and how ATI has the MBR issue, not FDISR.

[crofttk]

-{ Quote: "...I have to agree that FDISR is one of the best all around programs I have ever seen for a PC, ronjor. However, Image for Windows/DOS by Terabyte Unlimited (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/index.html) Makes the race for the best all around program ever seen for a PC. Since you qualified the category with the words "all around," I would have to give the edge to FDISR, simply because of its versatility." }-
dallen, no truer words were ever spoken. Looks like we share favorites !:)

[Meriadoc]

-{ Quote: "Greetings All,

Here is an interesting article for your eyes to feast upon. For those that already have FD-ISR, this is probably not to much of an issue on your systems, or at least the recovery is a simple one." }-

'Ere 'ere, just what I was thinking, and can I say thankyou for a great software, one of the best on this machine:thumb:


edited to fix quotes - Detox

[Acadia]

Meriadoc, thank you, but ... where is the article? ;)

Acadia

[Detox]

He was trying to quote post #1... I'll go fix his quote tags to clarify things ;-)